Lawyer in the news: Toby Robinson, Travers Smith

Who? Toby Robinson, partner, Travers Smith.

Why is he in the news? Led the Travers Smith team acting for Hewlett Packard Enterprise in respect of HP’s $11bn acquisition of Autonomy Corporation plc in 2011. Last week, Mr Justice Hildyard announced that  HP (now HPE) had ‘substantially succeeded’ in its fraud claims against  Autonomy’s former CEO Mike Lynch and CFO Sushovan Hussain – but  any damages awarded will be ‘considerably less’ than the $5bn claimed.

Thoughts on the case: ‘Our case was that HP significantly overpaid (by $5bn) for Autonomy as a result of the defendants’ fraudulent distortion of Autonomy’s financial performance. Being a fraud case, it was incredibly hard fought, with so much at stake for everyone. In a dramatic conclusion, the judge took the unusual step of announcing the result in a courtroom packed with lawyers and journalists without anyone knowing which way the result was going to go. My clients “substantially succeeded”, with quantum to be determined in due course.

‘This represents complete vindication for my clients, who have steadfastly pursued justice ever since they uncovered the wrongdoing at Autonomy back in 2012.’

Dealing with the media: ‘Significant media engagement and interest began back in November 2012, before we were instructed, when HP announced its decision to write down a large proportion of the amount it had paid for Autonomy. Perhaps understandably, and quite properly, the parties chose to lower the temperature throughout the course of the trial, notwithstanding immense media interest (both in the broadsheets and the legal press), given the high-profile protagonists involved, the scale of the alleged deception, the sums of money at stake and the fact that one of the defendants is currently in prison in the US, with the other (Dr Lynch) fighting extradition.’

Why become a lawyer? ‘I hadn’t worked out what I wanted to do by the time I left university, where I studied modern languages. I was, however, lucky enough to know Rupert Beaumont, a distinguished corporate partner at Slaughter and May who tragically died in 2013. It was Rupert who encouraged me to try my hand at law. I was sold, and a few weeks later applied to do the conversion course at Store Street, in London.’

Career high: ‘Undoubtedly this case. It was all-consuming, but never anything other than fascinating – with a truly dramatic conclusion.’

Career low: ‘As a junior lawyer, being told by an officious senior associate at my previous firm that I had committed a “career limiting move” when I booked holiday without having run it by him first (he had himself been on holiday when I made my plans).’