Macfarlanes has extended managing partner Julian Howard's leadership tenure for an extra two years past the end of his existing term in 2020, following the confirmation that senior partner Charles Martin will step down that year.

Martin said the deferral in choosing a new managing partner to fill Howard's role in April 2020 – the same time as when Martin himself will be replaced by private client partner Sebastian Prichard Jones – was intended to stagger the appointments to avoid both new postholders beginning concurrent tenures.

This means that Howard will work alongside Prichard Jones for two years after Martin steps down as senior partner on 30 April 2020.

➤➤  Macfarlanes senior partner Charles Martin is among the speakers on day one of LegalWeek CONNECT, taking place on 28-29 November at County Hall, London SE1, where he will discuss issues around collaboration. Click here for more information

Former banking head Howard has been managing partner of the City firm since 2010, when he took up the role from Simon Martin, while former corporate chief Charles Martin succeeded Paul Phippen as senior partner in 2008. By the end of their tenures, both lawyers will have held their respective roles for twelve years.

In January 2016, both Martin and Howard's terms were extended until 2020, following a vote from the partnership. At the time, Martin said: "We view succession as something that we always do in a smooth and considered way so we would always start looking at things well ahead of time."

Macfarlanes will not hold an election process for Howard's successor, instead consulting with partnership before making a decision based on consensus.

A number of other top law firms are weighing up their leadership options, with Clifford Chance currently in the middle of an election to select a new senior partner to replace Malcolm Sweeting at the end of the year. DLA Piper, meanwhile, recently opened the nomination process to elect its next managing partner, with current postholder Simon Levine widely expected to hold on to the position.