It looks like all change in the upper echelons of many of the magic circle firms over the next 18 months: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer this week revealed a revamped leadership quartet led by incoming senior partner Edward Braham (pictured below right), while potential candidates for elections at three other firms are also starting to emerge.

Slaughter and May intends to vote in a new senior partner in early 2016 after Chris Saul announced his retirement this week. Both Allen & Overy (A&O) and Linklaters are also revving up for campaigns in 2016. Only Clifford Chance will sail through next year without the distraction of a high-level election process, after its managing partner, Matthew Layton, took up the role in May 2014 and long-standing senior partner Malcolm Sweeting began his second four-year term in January this year.

Freshfields' election campaign, which kicked off in earnest in late May ahead of the firm's partner conference in Paris, saw former corporate chief Braham selected to replace Will Lawes. He ran alongside incumbent executive partner Stephen Eilers and former disputes head Christopher Pugh, who will replace David Aitman in the managing partner role. It is understood that Pugh will take care of operational management at the firm, whereas Eilers will be responsible for firm finances including audit and tax.

The global co-head of its general industries sector group, Michael Lacovara, will step in to the executive partner position.

The new management team, which takes on a five-year term from 1 January 2016, overcame competition from London corporate head Simon Marchant standing for senior partner alongside Germany and Austria regional managing partner Klaus-Stefan Hohenstatt looking to take the managing partner role, and a third team understood to consist of a Germany-based partner duo.

"Braham's team was regarded as a continuity team," says one Freshfields partner. "They did not come in with very radical proposals and the team contained one of the key figures [Eilers] from the last management team."

A former Freshfields partner adds that Braham and Pugh's leadership experience from their stints as practice heads gave them an edge. "It was the dream ticket; they both have the track record in execution and the strategic vision," he explains.

Their team also tackled the "usual sensitivity over geographic location", the ex-partner says, adding that Braham's team appears "successfully cross-frontier" given that Eilers is based in Cologne in Germany.

As senior partner Braham will play a central role in developing client relationships as well as building the firm's reputation and business. A cornerstone of his vision for Freshfields will be continuing the firm's expansion into the US.

"We want to be the law firm that clients turn to for help on the mandates that matter most to them, wherever in the world that may be," says Braham. "This means that the US will remain a key focus for the firm. We have shown with our recent hires in the US that attracting the right talent to the firm will deliver the desired growth in the US market and we'll continue to build on this solid platform."

As global head of corporate between 2009 and 2014, he played a role in an extensive hiring spree in New York. High-profile recruits included Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson senior partner Valerie Ford Jacob as part of a three-partner capital markets team in September 2014 – a move that followed hot on the heels of three other high-profile hires in the city.

"Freshfields has made a pretty major push into the US corporate market," comments a former partner. "Ed had been heavily involved in that exercise and so naturally this strategy will continue. I expect there will be more to come in terms of scale of operation there."

But Braham's management style is expected to be different from his "enormously popular" predecessor.

"Will is a huge people person; that was his particularly distinctive feature, whereas people's reaction to Ed is 'gosh, what a star'," says a Freshfields partner.

Though management shuffles at the remaining magic circle firms are at a far earlier stage, potential candidates for the key positions are starting to emerge.
A&O, where senior partner David Morley and managing partner Wim Dejonghe (pictured below) are due to conclude their second terms at the end of this financial year, intends to put a list of nominations together before the end of 2015 with the process kicking off properly in January 2016.

Neither partner will remain in their current post as the firm limits partners to two terms in each role. Some close to the firm have suggested Dejonghe could stand for senior partner, with co-head of corporate Andrew Ballheimer named as a possible candidate for the managing partner role.

Global banking heads Stephen Kensell and Andrew Trahair have also been suggested as potential contenders for the top jobs. The pair were appointed to run the firm's core banking team in May 2008.

A spokesperson for A&O says there is "nothing for the firm or its partners to comment on" until the nominations for the elections in 2016 are confirmed later this year. "At that time we will confirm the candidates who are standing and then the final result," she adds.

Slaughters' Saul is also set to end his second term as senior partner on 30 April 2016, when he is expected to retire from the firm. The vote for Slaughters' new senior partner, who will serve a five-year term, is slated for early next year.

One Slaughters partner says it is likely that the next senior partner will also be from the corporate practice: "A head of corporate or M&A would be a person who can command and garner support.

"The process is not very formal. It's not about laying out your view of what the firm should look like."

While it is not yet known who will throw their hat into the ring, head of M&A Stephen Cooke is an obvious possibility, according to multiple Slaughters partners.

Linklaters' partnership has a slightly longer lead time, with its senior partner election anticipated in May 2016, ahead of a managing partner vote expected to take place in autumn next year. A spokesperson for the firm said exact dates for the elections have not yet been decided.

It is understood that Linklaters is in the early stages of preparing for hustings for the senior partner post but no candidates have formally put themselves forward yet.

Senior partner Robert Elliott was elected in May 2011 for a five-year term, which ends in September 2016, but it is understood that he does not intend to run again. He replaced David Cheyne, who Elliott had unsuccessfully run against for the position in 2006.

Global managing partner Simon Davies first took on the role in 2008, replacing predecessor Tony Angel. He began a second four-year term in the position in 2012, which ends on 30 December 2016.

The favourite for the senior partner role is London corporate partner Charlie Jacobs, say ex-partners. "It is common knowledge that he wants the job," claims one.

Another adds: "He's charismatic, people at the firm like him and clients like him." The firm's co-head of global M&A, Jean-Pierre Blumberg, based in Antwerp, is also understood to be interested in the role. "He is keen to do it and he has support," an ex-partner says.

The managing partner election is at an even earlier point, and potential names to replace Davies, who was the firm's youngest-ever managing partner at 39, include Asia managing partner Marc Harvey and London head of finance and projects Michael Kent.

"I don't think a high-profile partner will take the managing partner role," comments one ex-Linklaters partner. "It will be someone who is not an obvious candidate."

It is unclear whether Davies will put himself forward again for the post, though some former partners suggest there is a feeling within parts of the firm that he should not stand again.

When Davies was reappointed in 2012 he was the only candidate standing but he failed to initially achieve the 75% majority vote required to secure his reappointment as managing partner because of a protest by partners unhappy with management decisions and the way they were communicated. Despite the protest, Davies ultimately secured the majority required.

Linklaters and Slaughters declined to comment on the forthcoming elections.

Magic circle term-ends

Allen & Overy
Wim Dejonghe – managing partner – April 2016
David Morley – senior partner – April 2016

Slaughter and May
Chris Saul – senior partner – April 2016
David Wittmann – practice partner – April 2017
Richard Clark – executive partner -April 2017

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Edward Braham – senior partner – December 2020
Michael Lacovara – executive partner – December 2020
Chris Pugh and Stephan Eilers – managing partners – December 2020

Linklaters
Robert Elliott – senior partner – September 2016
Simon Davies – managing partner – December 2016

Clifford Chance
Matthew Layton – managing partner – April 2018
Malcolm Sweeting – senior partner – December 2018