Julie Jones, Ropes & Gray

Ropes & Gray has selected corporate partner Julie Jones to become the firm's first-ever chairwoman after its current chair, R. Bradford Malt, retires at the end of 2019.

The change will not take effect until 2020, but when it does, Jones, 48, will join a select number of women at the top levels of leadership in Am Law 200 firms. She'll also become the first woman to hold the chair position in Ropes & Gray's more than 150-year history.

The leadership transition coincides with Malt's reaching the firm's mandatory retirement age of 65 at the end of 2019. The firm's policy committee, which acts as its governing board, selected Jones as the firm's next chair after conducting one-on-one consultations with all of the firm's partners, according to Malt and Ropes & Gray managing partner David Chapin. Chapin is also due to retire at the end of 2019, and he said a similar process would take place next year to determine his successor as managing partner.