Pillsbury Winthrop's London managing partner David Snyder has been voted executive vice-chair of the West Coast giant following the firm's first management elections since the 2001 merger that created the US giant.

Snyder, who takes over from New York-based John Pritchard, will work closely with chair, Mary Cranston and managing partner, Marina Park, who have both won second-terms in their respective roles.

Cranston said: "Dave is an experienced leader and he has the trust and respect of his fellow partners. London remains a continued area of focus for us, and Dave will remain involved with our efforts to continue expansion in that area."

It is not clear if Snyder, who in July advised IDEC Pharmaceuticals on its $6.7bn (£4bn) merger with Biogen, will relocate full-time back to San Diego.

The senior roles are part of a firm-wide vote that kicked-off on 1 November and closed Friday (15 November), which saw the 800-lawyer San Francisco firm vote on its 12-member management board, which oversees the firm's strategy.

In addition to Cranston, Park and Snyder, the board is comprised of New York-based partners Philip Douglas, David Falck and Michael Schumaecker plus Virginia partner William Atkins.

The remainder are West Coast partners: San Francisco-based Kirke Hasson, Terry Kee and Andrea Wirum and the Los Angeles-based Michael Finnegan and Edward Perron.

The board was finalised following a two-month canvassing of Pillsburys' partners by a 15-member nominating committee to see who the firm's partnership favoured for its senior management roles.

The nominations are a strong indication that the integration of San Francisco's Pillsbury Madison & Sutro and New York's Winthrop Stimson Putnam & Roberts has the seal of approval from the partnership.

Since the merger, profits per partner have risen from 2000′s $500,000 (£334,654) to last year's $710,000 (£448,500) and has also launched an office in Houston and has been targeting a UK merger since last year.

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