Slaughter and May has appointed Chris Saul to succeed Nigel Boardman as its new head of corporate as the magic circle firm finalises the appointment of five new members to its management board.

The appointments, which were finalised at the end of last month and take effect from 1 May, see Saul take on the high profile head of corporate role, while Andrew Balfour replaces Richard Slater as head of finance.

Saul and Balfour also join Slaughters' 10-member partnership board, which has four places reserved for practice heads. The other two department head roles on the board have been taken by real estate head Graham White and M&A chief Stephen Cooke, who was reappointed.

Two other board places up for grabs have been handed to corporate partners David Johnson and Philip Snell, who replace junior partner representatives Elizabeth Holden and Martin Hattrell.

Other board members, who were not up for review, are senior partner Tim Clark, executive partner Melvyn Hughes and elected partners Richard Clark (litigation) and Jonathan Fenn (pensions and employment).

Most of the firm's 11 practice group heads remained the same, with the only other changes seeing Elizabeth Barrett replacing litigation head Richard Grandison and Tony Beare replacing highly rated tax head Steve Edge.

The selection process involved candidates being nominated by the partnership, with elections taking place when several candidates emerged.

The appointments, which run for three years, come as Slaughters moves to bring forward a new generation of rainmakers at a time when many of its best-known lawyers are stepping back from leadership roles.

In particular, Saul, who has handled much of Slaughters' work in the private equity sector, will be closely watched by rivals as he takes over from Boardman as ambassador for the firm's celebrated transactional practice.

Finance partner David Frank told Legal Week: "Chris is an archetypal multi-specialist and the firm feels these are the right people for the job. We are looking forward to the future with confidence."