High-profile City personalities join with RollonFriday founder for new service launch

A trio of high-profile former law firm senior partners have teamed up to launch a new service intended to help partners find non-executive positions with charities.

Former Simmons & Simmons senior partner Bill Knight (pictured) has joined forces with ex-Allen & Overy (A&O) and Slaughter and May counterparts Guy Beringer and Tim Clark to launch the new venture alongside RollonFriday founder Matthew Rhodes.

The service, which currently has the working title BCKR, is expected to formally launch in the summer. It will take the form of a website that will help match up law firm partners with non-exec vacancies at charities, acting as an online community rather than a recruitment agency.

Law firms will subscribe on a  fee-per-partner basis, with interested partners creating their own account on the site in order to find positions, which they will carry out alongside their existing legal work.

The venture is intended to help raise the legal profession's boardroom profile in the UK by ensuring that partners are gaining relevant experience earlier in their careers, therefore making them better prepared and qualified to find senior positions when they retire.

Lawyers have to date been poorly represented on corporate boards in the UK, with many former partners struggling to find positions on retirement due to the perception that they are purely technical legal advisers.

Knight, who chaired the Financial Reporting Review Panel for eight years until retiring at the end of last month when he was replaced by former Herbert Smith partner Richard Fleck, said: "Unlike in the US, there are only a handful of solicitors on boards of FTSE 250 companies. With very few exceptions, our profession is not getting into the boardroom. It would really be a good thing to change this situation. It would improve the profession and raise our status.

"It is essential preparation for retirement but it will also add real value while practising as it will give lawyers more in common with their clients."

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