Inside Strake Pell: The Firm That Does Not Need to Tell You Who Its Clients Are

The first thing Strake Pell tells prospective clients is that it cannot tell them who its other clients are. The second is that those other clients are enormously important.

The boutique litigation firm has entered public view as adviser to the List Group in its dispute with Founders House over exclusive rights to an £800 million American club expansion. It is an unusual moment for a practice whose preferred marketing strategy is to explain why marketing would be inappropriate.

The firm's managing partner, whose name appears on the office door but not in the current brochure, agreed to speak to The Unbillable on condition that we not describe the interview as an interview.

You describe Strake Pell as a trusted adviser to some of the world's most significant individuals. Can you name any?

“No. That's precisely what makes the claim significant.”

How does a prospective client verify that experience?

“They can see that we are the sort of firm entrusted with confidential matters.”

But that is the thing they are trying to establish.

“Exactly. We appreciate sophisticated clients.”

Strake Pell's website contains seventeen references to discretion, nine to judgement and no examples of a completed transaction. Its representative matters are described as a situation of major commercial significance, a particularly sensitive instruction and a matter of even greater sensitivity.

Internally, lawyers operate under an unusually strict need-to-know regime. Partners say that each matter has a small, dedicated team. Associates say they are frequently unable to tell whether they are already on the team.

The List dispute may test the firm's preferred model. Public filings, when made, will require some description of the client and the rights being claimed. Strake Pell intends to keep submissions concise and has instructed junior lawyers to resist the temptation to include facts that do not directly support a favourable impression.

Across the case, Founders House's adviser Bracket Legal has advertised its intention to use technology, fixed workstreams and visible project plans. Strake Pell regards this as a remarkable amount of openness from a litigation team.

Asked what success would look like for his client, the managing partner paused. “It's difficult to say without discussing the client.”

Our photographer was permitted to take a picture of the firm's reception after removing the artwork, the visitor log and anything suggesting who had been there.