Linklaters banking head Gideon Moore's appointment as the firm's new managing partner has been ratified by the firm's partnership in an all partner-vote.

Moore was appointed by the firm's partnership board earlier this month but his position remained to be ratified by a partnership vote at the firms partner conference, currently underway.

In the vote today he received in excess of the 75% approval rating needed to endorse his appointment.

Moore will take over the managing partner role from Simon Davies in January for a four-year term.

Davies announced in July that he would step down a year early to join Lloyd's Banking Group as its chief people, legal and strategy officer.

Gideon is an outstanding lawyer with proven management and leadership qualities

His announcement triggered the managing partner election process that culminated today in Moore's endorsement by the partnership.

The firm's chairman and senior partner Robert Elliott said: "Gideon is an outstanding lawyer with proven management and leadership qualities. His election comes after a tremendously positive and collegiate process and marks the next phase in the firm's development, which I believe Gideon is ideally suited to lead."

Moore (pictured) said he was "honoured to have the opportunity" to lead Linklaters.

He added: "My job will focus on creating the best conditions for this firm to excel – delivering an outstanding client experience; investing to manage our matters ever more efficiently; ensuring that we are able to support our clients around the world with our uniform top level advice; and by making Linklaters an ever better place to work, where our people can perform to the best of their abilities and thrive in their careers."

In the summer the firm's partnership board drew up an initial list of six candidates: operational intelligence co-head Tom Shropshire, litigation head Michael Bennett, Asia managing partner Marc Harvey, head of finance and projects Michael Kent, Amsterdam-based European managing partner Pieter Riemer and Moore.

The list was reduced to three after the candidates presented their vision for the future of the firm to the partnership board.

The final three, Moore, Harvey and Bennett, then embarked on a hustings process within the partnership, in which they visited a number of the firm's international offices and held town hall meetings to expound on their vision for the firm and field questions from partners.

The partnership board, after consulting within the partnership, chose Moore as the winning candidate, contingent on the firm's partners ratifying the decision in an all-partner vote.