Tributes paid to 'exceptional' former Linklaters chief

Robert Elliott, a former senior partner and chair of Linklaters who played a key role in managing the banking sector’s response to the 2007-8 global financial crisis, has died aged 71.

Aedamar Comiskey, Linklaters’ current senior partner and chair, paid tribute to ‘a much loved friend and an exceptional colleague lost far too soon’. She added: ‘Robert was a Linklaters legend in the truest sense of the word. He was held in the highest regard by everyone, both within Linklaters and far beyond.’

Former Law Society president Simon Davis, who was a partner at Clifford Chance, told the Gazette that Elliott was ‘an inspiration to me and so many others’. He added: ‘I was so distressed to hear the news. What an extraordinary man, how brave, how clever, how kind and how dedicated.’

Educated at Leeds Grammar School and the University of London, Elliott trained at Malkin, Cullis & Sumption, a tax-focused City law firm co-founded by Anthony Sumption (father of Jonathan Sumption). He joined Wilde Sapte in 1976, where he later led its banking group. He moved to what was then Linklaters & Paines in 1990 and was elected to the partnership a year later.

At Linklaters, he said in an interview for the Gazette, he spent the first few years building up the banking and restructuring group – a project he shared with colleagues including John Tucker (former global head of banking) and Giles White (former global head of finance).

Meanwhile, the firm pursued its expansion through a series of European mergers. The object through these years was simple, Elliott said – ‘to get on terms with our two immediate competitors, Allen & Overy and Clifford Chance’.

In his first attempt to be elected senior partner, Elliott lost out to David Cheyne. The year was 2006, and the loss put him, in his own word, at the ‘coalface’ of the global financial crisis. ‘All the bank rescues and rehab work – that was huge, so I think I was in the proper place in the firm at the time,’ he recalled.

His team landed the administration of Lehman Brothers, dubbed one of the ‘instructions of the century’. Elliott also advised on the £45bn recapitalisation of Royal Bank of Scotland in 2009.

Going for senior partner again in 2011 - successfully this time - Elliott ran on a manifesto that stressed the importance of empowering individual partners to become more entrepreneurial, and to independently prioritise client relationships. When he signed off as senior partner, in 2016, firm income had topped £1.3bn for the first time.

On leaving the partnership, he remained at Linklaters as a consultant. Subsequent roles included membership of the board of lobby group TheCityUK.

As chair of the Law Society’s International Law Committee, he also shaped the profession’s response to the ongoing challenges it faced post-Brexit.

Aedamar Comiskey, senior partner and chair, Linklaters, writes:

We’ve lost a much loved friend and an exceptional colleague far too soon. Robert was a Linklaters’ legend in the truest sense of the word. He was held in the highest regard by everyone, both within Linklaters and far beyond. We will remember him for his clear-eyed focus on delivering the best of the firm for our people and our clients. He had a natural warmth and infectious positivity which meant he was liked by everyone he met and also gave him a special ability to make people feel listened to and respected.

Always encouraging of ambition, focused on excellence and keen to make things fun, he was a brilliant mentor and role model. Robert had a hugely positive influence on the careers of so many of us and we will always be immensely grateful to him.

We were all privileged to know him and honoured to work alongside him. Robert often referred to Linklaters as his second home, I really hope he realised how much of a home he made it for so many of us. The Linklaters family will miss Robert greatly but his legacy within the firm will live on for many generations to come.

Simon Davis, former president, the Law Society, writes:

I was so distressed to hear the news of Robert. What an extraordinary man, how brave, how clever, how kind and how dedicated. Robert was so supportive of me when I took on the Law Society role. He was one of the first senior partners who I saw and reassured me that I was not actually the imposter I thought I was. An inspiration to me and so many others. I wish him well on his next journey.