Herbert Smith is gearing up for a management overhaul of its practice groups, with partners set to vote on new leaders for the corporate, litigation and finance practices.

Finance partners Ewen Fergusson and Malcolm Hitching are going head-to-head to lead the finance group after the practice's incumbent head, Jason Fox, decided to stand down after five years in the role and return to full-time fee-earning work.

High-profile partner James Palmer (pictured) is standing for the head of corporate role after current post-holder, Michael Walter, also decided to return tofull-time fee earning.

Palmer, who is standing uncontested, is running for the role on the basis that the firm will also introduce a newly-created position of global managing partner for corporate. The new position, for which partner Patrick Mitchell is standing uncontested, is intended to free some of Palmer's time for fee earning.

Meanwhile, in litigation, current practice head Sonya Leydecker is standing uncontested for a second term.

Voting is taking place at the moment with a decision expected by early February. The new divisional heads, who require at least 50% of the vote to secure their positions, will begin five-year terms on 1 May.

The latest election process comes after the firm voted in competition partner Jonathan Scott as new senior partner. Scott was elected following a contested run against Moscow managing partner Allen Hanen and disputes partner Tim Parkes. Scott is working with current senior partner David Gold until he takes over at the beginning of May.