Simmons & Simmons has kicked off the process of electing new managing and senior partners, with City litigator Colin Passmore (pictured) the first candidate in the running for senior partner.

The firm is currently taking nominations for the senior partner role and it is expected that there will be several candidates when the elections start early next year, with incumbent managing partner Mark Dawkins viewed as a strong contender if he decides to stand for the position.

Meanwhile, the firm's managing partner election is due to close this Friday (10 December).

The elections see the firm's London-based head of finance Jeremy Hoyland in the running against Germany country head Hans-Hermann Aldenhoff, after the two emerged as the only candidates with sufficient nominations to stand in the vote that opened on 24 November.

The firm had entertained the idea of a rule change to allow for Dawkins to serve another term as managing partner despite having served the maximum two terms stipulated in the firm's partnership deed. However, Dawkins took a final decision last month not to stand.

The winning candidate is set to take office from 1 May 2011 for a four-year term, while the senior partner role, currently held by David Dickinson, comes up for renewal in August next year.

Simmons made changes to its partnership deed last year to avoid a clash of elections for senior and managing partner in the future, with the next senior partner to serve an initial two-year term but with the scope of being re-elected for a further four-year term.

After that, both the senior and managing partner will serve four-year terms, which was a change from a current three-year managing partner term and five-year senior partner term.

Simmons declined to comment on the election processes.