Those of you who pay for a tonnes o'cash subscription will have received your latest edition of Legal Business in the past couple of days. It's the profession's most delightfully new-book smelling publication. And June 2012 contains a real treat - a lovely long interview with the man, the legend. Mr 110%, Nigel Savage.
In typical LB style, they've gone for humiliation with the photos - Nigel's box-fresh shirt is so beautifully creased, it's a surprise he didn't have someone's eye out. And the words are good too. You must read it. Your firm probably subscribes.
Like much of the legal press, I've got a soft spot for Sir Nige. He is endlessly quotable, the sort of guy who lives his entire life on the record. His PR angle is always bullish, and it's done neither him, nor his institution, any harm at all. There's no doubt that he's shown
terrific ambition in making the CoL what it is today (i.e. a law school, with courses,
employment stats and a calibre of students equally as good as the other major law schools). Montagu is not investing in the instutition: it's Savage it wants (and all that lovely real estate). Sadly, his equity package - into which he pumped £100,000 (which
must explain the £100,000 hole in his pay last year) - will, we fear,
never be disclosed.
There are passages of the interview which naturally catch the eye (mainly the ones in
which RollOnFriday - which has come down hard on him in the past - is mentioned). How about this: "
Although £440,000 may seem steep in the context of a charity, it is comparable with the average PEP of the LB100".
Call me crazy, but I'm still not convinced that law firms and providers of professional education are comparable?: £440k
(plus pension) does indeed seem "
steep" for a charity.
Not that Nigel
could give a damn - "
all the crap* about my salary is [just] a
manifestation of the tension of trying to run a business in a
charity" (fair enough, in the post BPP/Apollo world). Warming to his theme, he continues "
We are not like bloody Oxfam". That much is true - the CEO of
Oxfam was paid £110,000 last year, and I think it's a safe bet that they
did more than pump out a massive oversupply of LPC
grads. Roguely, Nigel "
Teflon" Savage makes no comment on that.
Bloody idiots
There's an interesting sidebar of opinions from law students. Most seem
happy enough with the CoL and the Montagu deal - "
doesn't affect me",
"
indifferent" etc. The sole voice of reason is from Maral, a City
trainee (luckily, they've removed Maral's surname, so there's no chance
of Savage killing her). Maral - the only one who's finished the course and starting a training contract - says: "
To be honest the LPC is a
con in itself because you just learn everything in practice. I think all LPC providers are just money grabbing".
* FAOD, he means from RoF, dear reader.