Given the credentials of the four candidates and the dual vote, the voting calculations could get complex. If there is any desire to spread representation across the firm - and there is some indication that there is - the obvious move is to have one appointee each from banking and corporate. It would also send out a strong message to have one main leadership role go outside the UK. Such factors would favour the candidacy of Wim Dejonghe, a corporate lawyer, against London-based capital markets veteran Boyan Wells in the managing partner vote. The timing is good for the popular Dejonghe, coming as the firm’s Benelux practice has put in a strong performance. Two years ago the robust Wells would have looked a shoo-in (indeed, he won a board place in a 2006 vote in which Dejonghe failed to secure a place) but now it looks too close to call.
In contrast, Morley still looks the front-runner for senior partner. As a highly successful head of banking, he built a reputation as a polished communicator and natural leader. He has also emerged from an uncertain early period as managing partner in which the firm’s direction was hard to define. With Morley the clear favourite, the question is whether the self-assured Richard Cranfield can repeat the shock win Guy Beringer managed as head of corporate against Bill Tudor John in 1999.
That the question could even be asked is a testament to the revival in Cranfield’s reputation, which had suffered during A&O’s corporate slowdown between 2002 and 2005. With corporate putting in an impressive performance last year and elements of Cranfield’s focus on long-term client development ultimately bearing fruit, he cannot be ruled out. But with Morley cutting a more populist figure than the autocratic Tudor John, it is harder to see Cranfield repeating Beringer’s feat.
Still, it is enough of a contest that the result could yet turn on the partners’ campaigns, as A&O hopefuls traditionally put forward a ‘manifesto’ for the partnership to judge their candidature. One A&O-watcher says Cranfield is mounting a strong case - the pressure will be on the other candidates to do likewise.
For thousands of the best legal jobs, click here.
