Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw is set to confirm London litigation partner Sean Connolly as its new London chief.

Connolly will replace Paul Maher as London senior partner on 1 June, when Maher officially takes on the role of global vice-chairman.

Connolly has been a partner with Mayer Brown since 1989 and has served as joint head of the London litigation and dispute resolution departments since 1998. He is also a long-standing member of Mayer Brown's firmwide policy and planning committee as well as sitting on the London executive.

It is understood that Connolly and real estate head Jeremy Clay were the only contenders to take on the London leadership, with Connolly regarded internally as the front-runner because of his international experience.

One partner close to the firm commented: "I think Sean will be a very popular appointment. He's a nice guy and he has good people skills – he's very different to Paul, where you were either in his team or not."

Mayer Brown announced a three-partner chairmanship of the firm last October, naming Maher alongside Washington DC head Ken Geller as vice-chairs responsible for global strategy and operations respectively, with general counsel James Holzhauer taking over as chairman.