Malcolm Turnbull - lawyer, writer and, more recently, investment banker - seems to have the knack of profiting from difficult times. In 1987 he co-founded an investment bank four months before the world financial markets collapsed. The crash had caused much of corporate Australia to become disillusioned with their existing financial advisers, leaving the door open for Turnbull. "A new bank like ours, which had given no bad advice (only because no one had asked for it) was able to offer a fresh prospective. We got off to a good start."
Now a little over a year after joining Goldman Sachs Australia, the award of a partnership means that Turnbull once again stands to benefit from a financial slump. In this instance, the worldwide stockmarket crash has prompted Goldman to postpone its flotation, thereby entitling Turnbull and the other new partners to receive a share of the proceeds when it does eventually take place.
Turnbull has managed to squeeze an extraordinary amount into his 44 years. He became famous in Britain and beyond in the late 1980s as the lawyer for Peter Wright in the Spycatcher case. Soon after Turbull had founded a law firm in 1986, the retired British spy Wright was looking for someone to defend the publication of his memoirs.