SJ Berwin has voted through changes to its governance structure after the firm's partnership gave unanimous support for proposals in a meeting on Friday (10 December).

Nominations have now opened for the new partnership board that will be responsible for the firm's overall strategic direction and will replace the current strategy committee, which has until now dealt with both strategy and management issues.

Elections for the eight-member board are due to begin later this week, after which the firm will put in place a new management committee and an international executive committee, the sizes of which are still being decided.

The management committee will consist of department heads and business support directors and will be responsible for firmwide management. The international executive will be formed of leaders from international offices and will be responsible for international management.

The changes follow a partner consultation that was launched last month by new managing partner Rob Day, who is aiming to improve communication and ease decision-making at the firm.

The firm has also kicked off the search for a new real estate head, with the practice currently co-led by Bryan Pickup – a former longstanding head of the group – and planning partner Simon Ricketts.

Ricketts said: "We are looking at recruiting one or more partners, which could include someone at leadership level. This is a signal of the scale of our ambition and the continuing commitment of the firm to the sector."

The real estate department currently has 14 partners in London after Vivian left last month along with three other partners. In total, a group of 16 lawyers left to join Irwin Mitchell, which is intending to build a London real estate practice.

The management shake-up at SJ Berwin comes in the wake of the collapse of the firm's long-running merger talks with New York's Proskauer Rose last month, with management criticised throughout the process by some within the firm for poor communication.

Day succeeded Ralph Cohen as managing partner on 1 November, after Cohen decided to step down ahead of the end of his term to return to practice in the firm's EU & competition department.