Clifford Chance (CC) partners are preparing to vote on a number of changes to the firm's governance structure including measures to speed up management appointments.

Partners received a proposal paper last week detailing the suggested changes, with the vote set to close in the first week of February.

As part of the proposals, the firm is planning to create a nomination committee for practice group head and regional managing partner positions.

The new committee will be responsible for selecting candidates for each position, with the final decision being put to a vote of the partnership.

At present, potential candidates for all management positions are nominated by the partnership as a whole, which often leads to contested votes. An open vote will continue to be used for selecting candidates for the firmwide senior and managing partner posts.

CC started discussing changes to its governance structure in September last year as the firm prepared for the re-election of David Childs as managing partner. A number of changes were discussed including the possibility of cutting down the size of the management team to make it less top-heavy.

Commenting on the latest proposals, a CC spokesperson said: "A proposal containing a number of recommendations to streamline the firm's governance has been circulated to partners. There are no plans to make any fundamental change to the overall management of the firm or the partnership."

CC currently operates a 17-member management committee led by Childs, dealing with day-to-day management and strategy as well as a supervisory partnership council.