Lessons learned from ‘Rebel Prince’
One of my favourite authors is Tom Bower who I am pleased to say I have had the pleasure of meeting at a dinner some years ago.
Last week I picked up his book ‘Rebel Prince’ and refreshed my memory on the nightmare caused by Paul Burrell, butler to the late Princess Diana. The scandal is set out on page 114.
Burrell had ‘taken items belonging to Diana, William and Charles, apparently without permission, to a transition point for storage, and months later had transferred them to his new home in Cheshire, where he had kept them for three years without telling any official or member of the royal family.’
On page 109 we learn how the stash came to light. ‘Kevin Ward, a police protection officer at Kensington Palace…report[ed] that nearly a year after Diana’s death he had watched Paul Burrell carrying bundles of dresses and a wooden ‘presentation’ box with brass fittings out of Kensington Palace and loading them into his car’… ‘Burrell was arrested and his ‘house was .. searched. What the detectives found was a surprise’….
‘The living room, study and other rooms were filled with paintings, drawings, china, and photographs that had clearly belonged to Diana and her children’
‘The news of Burrell’s arrest reached Charles about a week later’… ‘The Prince turned to Fiona Shackleton’ Fiona is a world class matrimonial lawyer who I know from university days. She had conducted the Prince’s divorce as well as many other celebrity divorces such as Paul McCartney. She was available for the Prince ‘Day and night, at weekends and on family holidays, she took his calls and obeyed any summons to travel to Highgrove, London or Scotland’.
‘Aware that she was not a specialist in criminal law, Shackleton consulted Robert Seabrook QC who had acted for Charles in his divorce’. However, her brief to the barrister ‘was limited to preventing Charles or William from stepping into the witness box.’ Their privacy had to be protected at all costs. Shackleton did not tell Seabrook about the negotiations to recover property from Burrell.
‘Burrell was willing to return some items if Charles agreed that he would not support any prosecution’… ‘Shackleton… inexperienced in criminal law… seemed unaware of the importance of the victim’s opinion about an alleged crime…[he said they were gifts] It needs to be all or nothing.. only a total return of the property could stop the prosecution…Shackleton did not appear to consider that the absence of a wise manager in the royal palaces with the expertise to broker a deal with Burrell was a handicap…. Some would later say she was out of her depth’
‘Shackleton said ‘Charles doesn’t want to prosecute and wants it all to go away. It must be stopped. Some of those directly involved in the case would judge that Shackleton was well-meaning but at times too sure of herself. Others thought she was panicking’
Shackleton’s situation is not unusual. It is tempting if a private client professional has a close relationship with a celebrity, or well-known entrepreneur or personality to continue to advise beyond their expertise just as Shackleton did, for fear of losing that close relationship or allowing another professional to ‘steal’ the relationship from them.
Many years ago, I had the primary relationship with a leading Middle Eastern entrepreneur. I had advised him within my area of expertise, but during this time things began to go wrong for him, and he needed to refinance his banking arrangements. This is not my area of expertise and so I brought in a colleague from a different department. My colleague was there for him night and day.
A year later my colleague left the firm and took the client with him. Many years later I met up with the client’s ‘homme d’affair’ who said that my colleague had retired from practice leaving my former client ‘high and dry. But by this time he had lost most of his fortune and so had no need to return to me for my services.
In another situation a private client lawyer I know wanted to do everything his client wanted even if it meant him compromising his position as a partner in the firm. In due course he was asked to leave the firm.
It is tempting as a private client professional to want to ‘own’ the client but if you want to act in the best interests of your client and maintain their trust, you must know your own limitations and bring in other expertise and skills as and when required.
It is for this reason, amongst others, that I wanted to set up a club of private client professionals. We need to know who does what so that we can all recommend each other to our clients. I am of the believe that in so doing, you are acting in the best interests of the client and what you lose on the roundabouts you win on the swings.
I want private client professionals to get to know each other better and so they can make good recommendations based on a proper understanding of what a given professional does for his or her clients.
Please let me have your comments and don’t forget to register for Caroline’s Club – it’s FREE to register and you can then learn more about our exclusive award winning club of leading private client professionals who are keen to win business and build trust with clients simply register here