HFW has elected aviation partner Jeremy Shebson as its new managing partner and handed senior partner Richard Crump another three-year term at the helm of the firm.

Shebson, one of eight partners who joined HFW from Barlow Lyde & Gilbert in 2011, will start a two-year term as managing partner on 1 April, succeeding Marcus Bowman, who is retiring from the partnership.

While at HFW, Shebson has split his time between the firm's Sao Paulo and London bases. The firm has had a presence in Brazil since 2011, when it took over Barlows' local arm prior to that firm's merger with Clyde & Co, and last year agreed an association with newly established Brazil firm CAL.

Shebson, whose practice focuses on aviation and insurance cases across Latin America, will now settle in London full-time, continuing his work with the firm's strategy board and assuming duties as head of the management board, overseeing the firm's operational concerns. 

Bowman, who has been at the firm since 1987, hands over the reins having been elected managing partner in April 2015.

Meanwhile, Crump, who has been senior partner since 2007, has seen his tenure extended with a new three-year term from April 2019 to March 2022.

Under Crump's leadership, HFW has grown from a £68m City outfit into an international firm with revenues of £179m – 60% of which comes from overseas offices.

Singapore-based Crump said the firm's strategy is to "grow in all our sectors" and "react to opportunities in all of them".

He underlined the firm's commitment to its core areas of shipping, energy, construction, aerospace, insurance and commodities, while also highlighting its ambitions to diversify and expand, with a particular focus on commercial litigation and transactional work, as well as project finance.

Last summer, HFW posted an 8% increase in revenue for 2017-18, with profitability also rising on the back of the firm's continued focus on its key sectors. Revenues rose to a new record high of £179.1m, with profit per equity partner up 2% to £542,000.