Yair Leibowitz

What are the significant strengths of your firm in your eyes?

First and foremost the quality of the people; the perfectionism that guides them; the preparedness to sacrifice, to invest and comprehensively research each and every case regardless of its value and the fee that it is likely to yield; to conduct the legal struggle aggressively but only using fair methods with strict integrity and respect for colleagues; and the fact that the entire firm is "one large litigation department" in which experience is stored and there is a tradition of dozens of years of involvement in the full range and every aspect of complex litigation, at the highest professional level.

What are the firm's main challenges in the coming years?

The biggest challenge for the firm as an organization, and for each one of its lawyers themselves, is in my opinion, to know how to preserve, in a legal world which becomes more, to my major regret, superficial; cheap; populist; flashy; media oriented; etc – your bearings and your conscience, and an atmosphere of consultation and uncompromising professional standards, thoroughness and first-class legal work. We must remember that good reputation and legal success are the best public relations, and hope we shall succeed in keeping the firm as a clean and quiet island between the muddy waves that sometimes flood over the profession.

What advice would you offer a manager who is just starting out?

Strive to be a role model both from a professional perspective, as well as regarding work morality and every other perspective – your subordinates see and feel everything even if they do not say so in front of you; and don't become arrogant. Give the employees working with you and under you respect – they'll follow you and go with you only if you deserve it.

What is important to remember during difficult times?

To get things into proportion and not to lose your self-control.