John Davies

IN MEMORY

John Davies

John & Brenda Davies

Here are some words of the eulogy delivered by Frances McCarthy at the memorial service following John’s tragic death. Frances, formerly his articled clerk, is now senior partner of Pattinson & Brewer.

John Davies had such a gift for friendship that there will be many people confident they were the closest friend he had. His attitude towards people was: ‘A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met yet’.

He read English at St Catherine’s College Oxford, loved his books and adored the theatre.

But what a lawyer he was. He was a partner at Thompsons and jumped ship with Rex Church to come to Pattinson & Brewer. He became managing partner and then senior partner.

He built up an impressive conveyancing practice and was the favourite lawyer of all the building societies and banks in Holborn. As young lawyers we were awestruck at his ability to make each building society manager feel like they were his favourite and in his view the most competent manager in the business.

He developed a commercial conveyancing department which served all our major union clients. He enjoyed meeting and joking with them and people like Baroness (Margaret) Prosser and Lord (Ray) Collins became close friends.

His knowledge, legal skills and the thorough way in he approached his cases were impressive. But what I really learned from him was the importance of how you treated people, whether other lawyers or clients. He had an easy telephone manner, always seeming like he was chatting to friends.

But much more than his legal skills, he was the heart and soul of Pattinson & Brewer. He was the repository for confidence, the source of advice and counselling, the person to gossip with and make you laugh, the one to support you if you needed it and always to praise whenever possible.

He famously took each salaried partner out to breakfast on a regular basis to some greasy spoon where he was greeted by the owner with the affection he always inspired.

John always said that one day he would write the history of the firm and of our 100 years in Great James Street. He loved the area and knew it intimately., but when we decided to move to an open plan office, he came to love it for the way in which he could have easy access to all the staff.

At the time, he confided in me that he had decided to sell the Senior Partner’s picture, a most valuable painting that had hung in the Senior Partner’s office since time immemorial. “This will pay for the removal costs”’ he said confidently and took it off to Sothebys – where they gently advised him it was a print.

John was an early supporter of workplace equality. Although employing women in a trade union firm was frowned upon in those days, John continued to hire women, which is why Pattinson & Brewer is almost unique in having so many female partners. He pushed and supported us and insisted we took every chance we could.

He was a proud Welshman and rugby fanatic. After a round of Six Nations matches, the working day could not start until John had discussed the fine details of each game. Even those with no interest in rugby could not escape the post-match analysis. Ironic really because when Wales were playing he generally had to go for a walk because he couldn’t stand the tension.

Maintaining good relationships with clients is important and with John we had the master practitioner. Lunch was his forte. When we moved from our ancient offices in Great James Street to Pilgrim Street near St Paul’s, within 3 weeks John was greeted by name at every restaurant within a 2-mile radius, particularly the curry houses.

But shellfish was his downfall. Carole the tea lady once found him stretched out on the floor behind his desk after an unwise lunch choice. One of his favourite stories was how he opened his eyes to find her standing over him saying “Gawd Mr Davies – I thought you was a goner”.

John was a proud socialist and a member of the Labour party and served on its Finance Committee. He used his charm to persuade Lord Irvine to open one of our offices, an unusual thing for a Lord Chancellor to do, as the Law Gazette commented at the time.

John was admired by his peers and was voted secretary of the Holborn Law Society for many years and just loved it. The highlights of his year were the Holborn Law Society Garden Party and the Annual Dinner. At both functions he knew everyone who attended and no one could have enjoyed himself more.

The Holborn Law Society then became the City of Westminster and Holborn Law Society, and John was voted in as President. No man wore the finery with more enjoyment and we were so proud of him when he made his Presidential speech at the dinner. It was effortless, erudite and above all amusing.

John was a wonderful raconteur. One of his favourite stories was about one of the post room staff, an evangelical Christian who once organised a staff outing to see Mel Gibson in The Passion of the Christ. (Sadly John and I had unexpected engagements which prevented us from going.) The next morning, he came to tell us about it and to reassure us that he would organise another outing. He started to describe the film but stopped himself saying, “I mustn’t spoil the ending”. John laughed so much telling people this story that he nearly missed his train home.

Maya Angelou is credited with saying, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” It is hard to remember all the different things that happened in all the years I knew him, but I don’t forget how he made me feel. He was truly a life enhancer and we will all miss him so much.

John leaves his wife Brenda, two sons Huw and Chris and three adored grandsons, Matthew, Mark and Nick – Huw’s children with Jane, currently P & B’s managing partner.