The news that Travers Smith has voted in its first-ever female senior partner marks a watershed moment for the City thoroughbred.

While a handful of the UK top 50 now have women in top leadership roles, the magic circle and other blue-blood firms such as Macfarlanes and Travers have to date been led exclusively by men, and this week Clifford Chance partners passed on the chance to bring in its first female senior partner.

As such, the election of Kathleen Russ to succeed Chris Hale will have come as a surprise to some who still see Travers as something of an old boys' club.

However, her appointment by Travers' 80% male partnership is more evidence of the firm's recent efforts to move away from perceptions of old.

One former partner describes her election as "a great move". "Travers is a bit of a gentleman's club, so changes to that are welcome," he says. "The firm has needed a woman in a senior management role for a while now, and even if she does nothing to push the diversity agenda, just having a senior female role model in itself is a big step.

"Kathleen is superb and will be a good senior partner on her own merit. She's also very well placed to bring in changes, as she's been a partner there forever and she's very well respected."

Another ex-partner says: "Travers having a woman as senior partner is a good message. She will be a thoughtful leader and is passionate about the firm."

Travers' old-school reputation was not helped by the firm's high-profile 2013 dispute with former trainee Katie Tantum, who sued the firm after she was denied a permanent role when she fell pregnant during her final seat.

The case was settled around the time Hale stepped in as senior partner, and the ensuing years have seen the firm go through some soul-searching on how it can do better on diversity.

Travers CSR and diversity manager Chris Edwards says that since he joined from Stonewall in 2015, shortly after the election of current managing partner David Patient, the firm has "really transformed".

"There was a realisation that the firm wasn't as diverse or inclusive as it could be. David and Chris were both elected with promoting diversity as one of their manifesto headings, and it's something innately important to Chris.

"Chris is very good at being a diversity champion and has set up lots of initiatives, so it's not just empty words – he's really been investing in making things happen and getting involved in driving change."

Diversity-focused initiatives overseen by Hale during his tenure have included a new flexible working policy enabling all lawyers and staff to work agilely, as well as a proposal put forward last year to give lawyers the chance to take a career break while their children are young.

And there is evidence of some success, with 2017 seeing the firm's first-ever all-female partner promotions round, followed by an almost 50% female intake earlier this year.

One ex-partner adds: "Chris's successes have been around making Travers look like a more modern firm. He's done a lot of things around supporting women and diversity, which are things that are genuinely important to Chris. I'd say he's been one of the most influential people in the history of the firm."

On her appointment, Russ said that one of her priorities would be to continue to nurture the firm's "increasingly diverse" culture, and Edwards expects the firm to build on recent successes.

"Kathleen has always been vocal about diversity and inclusion and has been particularly visible in championing gender equality," he said. "It's good that we're putting women into very senior positions – this appointment is evidence that the firm is walking the walk in terms of diversity."