Leadership roles in play at Linklaters and Freshfields

Debate begins on Freshfields senior partner role; Linklaters mulls practice heads

Two of the City's leading law firms are preparing for a number of top-level changes, with Linklaters' global corporate head role and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's senior partner, managing partner and chief executive positions to be decided this year.

Linklaters corporate chief David Barnes (pictured) is to step down in April after five years in the role, with the magic circle firm expected to make a decision on his successor in the spring.

Managing partner Simon Davies is set to kick off an informal consultation with members of the firm's ExCom in the coming weeks, but partners are already linking a number of names to the job.

London partners Jeremy Parr, Charlie Jacobs and Matthew Middleditch are among those being cited for the post, with Parr, who looks after relationships including Lloyds Banking Group, seen as the most likely successor according to partners within the firm.

The tenures of global head of banking Robert Elliott and insolvency head Tony Bugg are also due to end in April, however, it is not known whether they will stand again. Stuart Salt's recent appointment as head of Asia means the firm is also looking for a new head of emerging Europe, Middle East and North Africa. Linklaters is also seeking an Americas head to replace John Tucker, who is standing down after three years in the job.

Separately, Freshfields is expected to assess whether to maintain its dual senior partner model as current postholders Konstantin Mettenheimer and Guy Morton come to the end of their five-year terms in December.

The joint senior partner post is the only elected position within Freshfields' management team. Chief executive Ted Burke and managing partner Peter Jeffcote will see their terms end at the same time but their successors will be decided by the firm's incoming senior partner and partnership council.

The 17-member partnership council will have to decide in the coming months whether or not to stick with the dual senior partner role, with any change having to go to a partnership vote.

The dual role is a legacy of Freshfields' 2001 merger with Germany's Bruckhaus Westrick Heller Loeber. In 2005 the partnership voted to retain the joint position but partners within the firm are now suggesting it could be time to drop it.

No names have officially been linked to the job as a decision is not expected until towards the end of the year. Early contenders suggested by those within the firm include head of the financial institutions group Will Lawes, competition partner Deidre Trapp and London corporate head Mark Rawlinson.

One Freshfields partner commented: "I think it's the right time to have one senior partner. We're 10 years down the line and should move on."

Another partner commented: "My guess is that we will have to separate out a few issues before we push ahead with the elections, like deciding if we go for one or two. I don't think it will be a root-and-branch review but this is a decent opportunity for us to look at how we are run."

The news comes as Allen & Overy this week named City partner Andrew Ballheimer and Amsterdam-based Sietze Hepkema as the new co-heads of its global corporate practice. Outgoing co-leader Richard Cranfield takes up a new post as chairman of the practice.

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