Slaughter and May corporate heavyweight Nigel Boardman (pictured) is to take up the role of chair of the magic circle firm's Africa group to run alongside his new consultancy role, after it emerged last week that he is stepping down from the firm's partnership. 

Boardman will replace incumbent chair Andrew Balfour, who is to leave the firm after 35 years.

Balfour took up the chair in 2014, following his own retirement from the partnership in 2011. In his 35-year career at Slaughters, he held a variety of senior positions within the firm, including head of the finance team and as a member of the partnership board, which he joined in 2004.

The firm's Africa group – of which Boardman and finance partner Steven Galbraith are also current members – works to develop Slaughters' relationships with firms across Africa through training programmes and secondments.

Boardman, who joined Slaughters in 1973 and was made partner in 1982, is retiring from the partnership after 45 years to take up a part-time consultancy role at the firm at the end of the financial year, with a three-year transition period to kick off next May.

His illustrious career has seen him take up roles on key Slaughters mandates, including the mergers of mining companies BHP and Billiton, defending Marks and Spencer from an attempted takeover by Sir Philip Green, and working closely with Arsenal Football Club's former executives Ivan Gazidis and David Dein.

In his new consultancy role, Boardman will also assume more ambassadorial duties, promoting the firm's interests internationally and strengthening ties with associated firms and investment bank clients in Australia, Singapore and, in particular, North America.

Outside of Slaughters, Boardman will continue in his roles as deputy chair of the British Museum, as a vice-president at Save the Children, and as a non-executive director at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.