Making the most of life’s opportunities

Aug 28 2007 by James Barton, The Journal

From Wallsend council house to legal counsel, Rob Langley, senior partner at Watson Burton, is proud of his roots in the region. James Barton meets the unassuming man who holds the top job at his firm.

ROB Langley loves to solve problems, it is his passion, his motivation and it has driven him to rise to the very top of his profession.

His parents, both teachers, split up when he was three years old and he lived in a basic Wallsend council house with a shared outside toilet.

From these humble beginnings, Langley now sits at the very top of the tree as presiding senior partner at Newcastle law firm Watson Burton.

He is in charge of a team of 400 staff, operating out of offices in Newcastle, Leeds and most recently London, with total sales of £23m.

But despite such success, Langley keeps his feet firmly on the ground, acutely aware of his good fortune born out of hard work, dedication and the patronage of others.

He says: “I have always felt fortunate to have had the opportunities I have had and it would have been a terrible waste if I hadn’t made the most of them.”

Langley passed his 11-plus exam and progressed to a local grammar school, and at 15 was picked out by his history teacher as Oxford University material.

Langley explains: “It was an important moment in my development. Dr Frank Rogers was an inspirational teacher and gave me the confidence to be ambitious. There are pivotal moments in everyone’s lives and being taught by Dr Rogers was one of mine.”

After being singled out as someone with potential, it perhaps would have been easy for Langley to rest on his laurels, content in the knowledge he had ability.

Instead, Langley delivered on early promise, excelling at school and winning a scholarship to Oxford University after taking the entrance exam.

Langley says: “Frank encouraged me to think about Oxford and opened up new vistas for me. I had no real calling to be a lawyer, but he advised me that it was a qualification considered to be a good all round discipline that could open doors in teaching or politics, not just the legal profession.”

So Langley set off for Oxford and was introduced to a different world, one that opened his eyes to the limitless possibilities the world has to offer.

He enthuses: “The great thing about Oxford – and probably university in general – was that you didn’t just live with students studying the law.

“When I joined Pembroke College I met people from all different backgrounds studying a host of different disciplines: mathematicians, doctors and linguists.

“It really gave you a sense that anything could happen, the seemingly boundless potential in the world.

“I felt privileged, particularly when surrounded by such wonderful architecture steeped in history, and I decided to work hard to make the most of such a marvellous opportunity.”

Langley did work hard, eventually studying for his bar exams, which he passed. He became a barrister in London for two years in the 1970s, but he found he wasn’t suited to legal advocacy.

“I prefer to form relationships with clients,” he explains. “And I didn’t like the part of legal advocacy that demanded undermining people in the witness box. It just isn’t me to do that to people.”

Instead, Langley decided he would be better suited to being a solicitor, working closely with people to take on their problems and issues and help them get resolved.

“I originally wanted to be a barrister because I wrongly perceived it as being more specialist than solicitor work,” he recalls. “But it quickly became apparent that solicitors were more specialist in the sense that they are more client facing.

“A barrister relies on solicitors for his information and the relationship they have established with the client.

“The reality at the time was that most barristers were effectively subcontractors to solicitors, not necessarily specialists at all.”

So Langley made a crucial decision to play to his strengths and retrained as a solicitor.

Langley says: “I didn’t agonise over the decision, I just instinctively knew I should change direction. So it is true to say that I have taken and passed both sets of legal exams.”

But it was as a litigator working within the commercial construction world where Langley really began to make his mark.

He says: “I found that working with engineers was a great privilege, they build our roads and houses, construct IT systems, they make the fabric of society work.”

Lifting the bonnet and looking beneath to see how things work is a characteristic that Langley has in spades. He is thorough, dogged and determined, and he has a real love of unraveling complex issues.

“As a barrister I realised I was not going to be able to do anything about preventative measures. By the time the barrister gets to them, people are usually already trapped in a cycle of criminal behaviour,” he says.

Langley made the decision to change and the course of his career moved in a totally different direction. It is clear thinking like this that has enabled Langley to progress with a real sense of purpose, always totally committed to the course he has chosen for himself.

He says: “I feel tremendously privileged now. As a lawyer you learn about the way the world works, people trust and impart to us because of our status.

“We are entrusted with a role to play and it is this opportunity to help people resolve what are perceived to be seemingly intractable issues that provides me with the greatest satisfaction.

“I realised it is civil work, contractual disagreements, rights and obligations that really interests me.

“I defend architects and engineers on liability and negligence claims. I like to think I don’t get people off the hook, I simply clarify the wrongdoing and the level of the wrongdoing and help redress the balance.”

Langley left the bar and in six months had re-qualified as a solicitor for Watson Burton, launching the firm’s construction practice. Within three years, in 1981, he had become an equity partner.

It was clear he had not only found his niche but that he was fast developing a track record of excellence in Newcastle’s burgeoning construction industry.

“In 1978 I received a phone call from Watson Burton’s senior partner, Mr Foster,” he recalls. “He had an appointment that afternoon with a quantity surveyor and wanted me to stand in for him.

“It was to discuss a contractual dispute on a development between contractors – mechanical and electrical engineers.”

He found that he had a real flair for settling disputes in this area. Langley’s attention to detail and analytical mind, together with a gentle but compelling persuasive technique enabled him to prosper, taking Watson Burton into a new and lucrative area.

“Within a couple of weeks I handled a second contractual dispute in the construction industry, then a third. Watson Burton didn’t have a construction division at the time, and by applying myself energetically and seizing my chance I made that area my own,” says Langley.

Since 1978 the construction practice at Watson Burton has grown and now accounts for 20% of the total billings at the firm, sustaining 10 partners and 25 other lawyers and paralegals.

Langley made his name launching and developing construction and, in the 12 months he has spent since being appointed senior partner at Watson Burton, has set about applying what he learned to running the whole business.

He says: “I spend about 20% of my time with my duties as a senior partner, I am a great believer in delegation. Find the right people, trust them, encourage them and listen to them, otherwise what is the point of having skilled staff?”

By coming to Watson Burton, Langley was also able to return to his home town, an area he has a deep and abiding affection for.

But this hasn’t stopped him from guiding the firm toward national prominence, opening first a Leeds office and then, in August last year, a London office.

It is the first permanent base to be established in the capital by a North-East law firm, which, under Langley’s leadership, has generated £1m in its first year.

Langley says: “We have had such success opening in London it is perhaps something we should have looked at doing sooner. Newcastle often gets overlooked nationally, and the London presence has really helped to bring in new clients and work that would not have happened without it.

“The London office now has a dozen staff and is building a strong commercial property portfolio. The Leeds office, now in its second year, has 45 staff and has worked with plcs such as Countrywide, Austin Reed Group, Albion and TH Global.

“This has been a year of consolidation following two years of rapid geographical and departmental expansion.

“The spectacular results of our core areas show that our long-term strategy has proved to be right for the firm and its clients. We will build on our success in key areas to strengthen Watson Burton even further in 2008.”

Away from work, Langley is a great lover of history and revels in his family life – he has a wife and three children. His one extravagance is a love of sailing, he owns a 37ft boat berthed at Royal Quays in North Tyneside.

“When I look at my life I am left with an abiding sense of gratitude for the privileges I’ve enjoyed,” he concludes.

It is worth noting that these privileges are more a testament to Langley’s work ethic and ability than simple good fortune.