A regular target for the Firm Spy’s opprobrium is the apparently soon to be formally internationally merged national law firm DLA Phillips Fox.

are you the king of the world, or a passenger on a sinking ship?

But even we must take pause to acknowledge the awe-inspiring rise of former Phillips Fox lawyer James Gorman.

Gorman grew up in the Melbournian suburb of Glen Iris, where he shared the house with 9 other brothers and sisters. He attended Xavier College and Melbourne University, earning an Arts/Law degree, before joining the former incarnation of DLA Phillips Fox; Phillips Fox Mazel in 1982.

Not long after, Gorman left Australia, to pursue a degree in business at New York’s Columbia University. From there, he went to work for McKinsey and, later, Merrill Lynch before moving to Morgan Stanley in 2006.

Earlier this week, Gorman was named as the new head of Morgan Stanley, starting 1 January 2010. In commenting on the elevation, the 51 year old told Adelaide Now:

“I’m very close to my siblings and my parents, and obviously they’re proud… it’s a demanding job but this is the kind of thing you live for, to take on these sorts of challenges…I was a little anxious coming up to the past couple of days but now that we’re launched it seems to have gone very well internally and the stock is behaving and the investors are behaving.

In his first media conference, Gorman reassured those gathered that the bank would stay focused on its core trading and banking businesses, despite the company’s push into retail brokerage.

To the law students dispairing at our report on the estimated reductions in vacation clerkships and graduate recruitment, take heart! James Gorman is a testament to the fact that anything is possible.

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