Slater & Gordon boss talks life after Quindell
Slater & Gordon’s new UK boss is keen to put the past behind him.
On Monday the law firm settled a long-running fraud claim against insurer Watchstone, drawing a line under a turbulent period that threatened to consign the world’s first listed law firm to the history books.
Slater had accused Watchstone – formerly Quindell – of fraud in connection with its disastrous £637m takeover of its professional services arm in 2015.
“It’s incredibly helpful to get this thing behind us, because much as we might try, some people still want to define us by what happened three or four years ago,” the consumer law firm’s chief executive David Whitmore says.
The Quindell deal took the Australian-listed firm to the brink, with Slater writing down AU$814m (£450m) in the value of the business within a year.
Read more: Watchstone shares jump 40 per cent after it settles Slater & Gordon fraud claim
By June 2017 its stock was almost worthless – having traded as high as 695 Australian cents in April 2015 – as it struggled under the weight of a £500m debt pile.
The firm was taken over by a consortium of lenders, led by distressed asset hedge fund Anchorage Capital, in June 2017.
As part of the restructuring, the firm’s UK business split from its Australian parent with Whitmore being appointed to lead the firm in January 2018.
Despite the firm’s bruising listed history, Whitmore does not rule out a return to the public markets.
“You never say never on these types of things and if we achieve our ultimate objective by becoming a much more dominant player in what is quite a disparate market at the moment – then potentially it is something that belongs on the public markets,” he says.
Read more: Watchstone accuses Slater & Gordon of using ‘illicit back channel’ during disputed Quindell deal
Slater is betting big on the UK personal injury market, despite looming government reforms that could make it more difficult for claimant law firms to make money.
Whitmore says the firm is “absolutely committed to being a major player” in the UK personal injury sector.
He is also bullish about group actions, an area where the firm is heavily involved, currently representing thousands of motorists in a claim against Volkswagen in connection with the emissions rigging scandal.
Whitmore also says the firm is toying with ditching the Slater & Gordon brand – which it shares with its former Australian parent.
“We get very positive recognition from the Slater & Gordon brand name. Whether we feel that is going to be the right brand name for us for the next three-to-five years I don’t know yet – but it’s something we will keep under review,” he says.
Read more: Volkswagen squirrels away €1bn contingency fund to pay emissions scandal legal fees
At the time of Anchorage Capital’s swoop on the firm, there was market speculation the hedge fund could seek to recoup its investment in a fire sale.
Whitmore, however, insists the firm’s owners are in it for the medium term at least, and willing to fund investments in tech and future takeover deals, to get the firm to the market leading position it craves.
“Will our current owners want to have some form of transaction in a few years time? Very possibly…but there is no pressure from our shareholders to push us to a position of maximising the value in 18 months to the detriment of the longer term future,” Whitmore says.
Whitmore says the firm’s ambition to build the UK’s leading consumer law firm should enable Slater to exorcise the ghosts of its turbulent past.
“I am sure it will – over time – take away any remaining concerns that we still have some entanglement with some of the more difficult periods in our history,” he says.