20821 A&O Alumni Yearbook 2016_pages

elcome to your 2016 yearbook,
our first as co-chairmen of the
W Allen & Overy Alumni Network.
We’d like to start by expressing
our thanks and gratitude to Alex Pease.
Alex was the first chairman of our Alumni
Network and for ten years played an
instrumental role in establishing and growing
what is now a network of more than 9,500
people across 70 countries. We’re excited to
have the opportunity to build on those
strong foundations and continue to develop
the network.
As the two of us have sat down to
consider the future for the network and
discussed our own experiences at A&O, a
consistent theme emerged: since the high
quality and challenging work the firm does
is taken as read, what’s really defined our
experiences of A&O is the people with
whom we worked and the relationships
that we built. For us, the core purpose of
the Alumni Network is to ensure that the
relationship with our people extends beyond
the period of employment and that our
alumni continue to be part of what we
consider to be a very special firm and
community of people.
Our theme for this, our first yearbook
as editors-in-chief, is therefore aptly a
celebration of the longevity of A&O’s
relationships with our people. We hear from
some of them, past and present, on how the
relationships and experiences at A&O have
shaped their careers and equipped them for
the future, whether with A&O or elsewhere.
On the subject of maintaining relationships,
our largest Global Alumni Reunion to
date took place this year in 14 locations
around the world and was attended by
more than 1,400 people (see the photographs
on our recently launched Instagram
page: AllenOveryAlumni). In addition, you
can read on pages 58 and 59 about the
continuing success of our mentoring
programme which is part of our commitment
to facilitate continuing learning and
collaboration with alumni.
This year has been a time of change for
A&O. Our senior partner, David Morley,
retired from the firm after almost 36 years.
He was an inspirational leader for many
years and we want to thank him and
wish him a long and happy retirement.
Wim Dejonghe and Andrew Ballheimer
have been elected as senior partner and
managing partner, respectively. Read about
their aspirations and plans for the future of
A&O on pages 4 to 11. In meeting some of
the challenges Wim and Andrew discuss,
you can also read about A&O’s Advanced
delivery project, an example of the way in
which A&O is innovating in the way it
delivers services to clients, on pages 45 to 49.
Finally, in early 2017 we will be inviting
you to participate in our global alumni
survey. Your feedback and suggestions will
help us invest in the Alumni Network in
ways that are most useful to you. Please take
a moment to share your thoughts.
We hope you enjoy reading this edition
of the yearbook and look forward to meeting
more of you over the coming year.
Best regards
BOYAN WELLS AND MAHMOOD LONE
CO-CHAIRMEN, ALUMNI NETWORK
Alumni Yearbook 2016
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