"I have a very clear vision, which has growth at its heart," says Simon Konsta, Clyde & Co's new senior partner.

Speaking to Legal Week, Konsta sets out his goals for his five-year term, which include continuing the firm's impressive international growth and improving Clydes' record on diversity and inclusion.

Insurance head Konsta took over the role earlier this month from James Burns, who stepped down three years into his five-year term to take up a newly created position as head of the Americas.

Konsta says Burns' decision to step down early made sense for the firm as a whole: "It was not a surprise," he says. "If you are going to continue with your investment in the US and your key global leader's in the US, why wouldn't you make that the focal point?"

Burns is based in San Francisco, where he has played a lead role in ramping up Clydes' headcount across the US. However, a decision was made that the senior partner should be based in the firm's London headquarters.

"As a £250m turnover business in the UK, it can be helpful to be in this timezone," Konsta says.

North American growth is a key part of the firm's ongoing strategy, with other regions for investment identified as continental Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

Under Burns, Clydes opened 15 new offices worldwide, and Konsta is equally ambitious about international growth.

In North America the firm has offices in Atlanta, New York, New Jersey, San Francisco, Newport Beach, Toronto, Montreal and this year launched an office in Miami.

Chicago and Vancouver have both previously been floated as potential locations for new offices, although Konsta will not confirm this, saying only that the firm has "various irons in the fire".

Europe is also high on the agenda. Konsta, freshly returned from a meeting of the firm's continental European partners in Paris, points to further growth in Germany, where the firm launched its first office in Duesseldorf in September, and also suggests Scandinavia, Benelux and southern Europe as areas for future expansion.

Konsta says that in Germany, "we would like to grow within insurance, because it is a huge market – far and away the biggest in terms of gross written premium within any European country".

However, he also says the firm would like to expand into other sectors such as construction and infrastructure, commodities, and trade and shipping.

Other German cities under consideration include Munich, which Konsta calls "one of the greatest cities in the world", adding that it "houses two at least of the global insurance and reinsurance powerhouses".

"It is obviously something we would look at if the right opportunities emerge," he says.

In Asia, mainland China is a key target. The firm already has offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Chongqing, with the latter office a joint venture with local firm Westlink Partnership, which enables the firm to offer local law advice.

Konsta says Clydes' ambition is to be able to "genuinely go to our client bases around the world and say we have an integrated capability in China that is absolutely respecting of Chinese regulatory requirements".

Another potential jurisdiction for growth for the firm is Iran which, with the lifting of international sanctions, offers a potential market of nearly 80 million people.

Konsta says: "We have our global strategy meeting in Dubai next week, and how we service our clients in relation to Iran will feature again."

He says the firm feels well placed given its existing presence across the Middle East, but adds that there remain aspects of the compliance and sanctions regime that are still "obstacles" to the firm opening in Iran.

Through his role as senior partner and chairing the firm's board, Konsta hopes to continue the work Burns has done to improve diversity at a firm which, under the 30-year leadership of Michael Payton (now chairman), gained a bit of a reputation as a macho, male-dominated firm.

"I feel very strongly about the inclusion piece," says Konsta, adding that he wants to "start to tap into the talent and the next generation at a management level and do so in a way that is really very focused on the inclusion aspect".

"I would like to be judged on that in five years' time – to have brought through the level of talent and succession and inclusion," he says.

Clyde & Co global board

Simon Konsta – senior partner Peter Hasson – chief executive Ben Knowles – arbitration co-chair John Morris – infrastructure head Andrew Nicholas – partner Andrew Preston – partner Ik Wei Chong – Asia head, Singapore Dean Carrigan – insurance partner, Sydney Duncan Crowdy – finance head William Isaac – head of strategy Carolena Gordon – partner James Burns – head of Americas David Willcox – partner Michael Parker – managing partner Singapore Jonathan Silver – head of Middle East and North Africa Daren McNally – partner