Latham & Watkins has opened the nomination process to elect the firm's next global chair and managing partner following the surprise resignation of William Voge last month.

The process is expected to last several months, with multiple nominations to be whittled down to a small group that the partnership of the 2,436-lawyer global legal giant will eventually vote upon.

The American Lawyer reported in March that there are several contenders for Latham's top leadership position, including current co-chairs Richard Trobman in London and Ora Fisher in Silicon Valley, both of whom were elevated to their interim leadership roles last month amid Voge's abrupt retirement from the firm. Trobman, a finance partner, was elected vice chair of Latham in early 2017, while Fisher is a transactional expert who serves on the firm's executive committee.

Besides those two front-runners, other Latham partners bandied about as potential Voge replacements include corporate partner Charles Ruck, who splits his time between New York and Costa Mesa, California; Los Angeles managing partner Jeffrey Greenberg; and private equity partner Paul Sheridan in Washington, D.C.

When Voge was elected to replace the firm's long-serving former leader, Robert Dell, in 2014, the leadership transition involved a months-long process. Some 38 candidates initially put themselves forward to replace Dell. As that number was winnowed down, the three finalists—Voge, Sheridan and Greenberg—embarked on an intense tour of Latham's different offices.

Latham declined to comment on its leadership nomination process.

The firm, which broke records in 2017 as its gross revenue shattered the $3 billion mark, has been busy so far this year recruiting key lateral partners.

Latham announced Thursday its hire of Willkie Farr & Gallagher antitrust and competition partners Jacques-Philippe Gunther and Adrien Giraud in Paris and Brussels, respectively.

Gunther leaves Willkie Farr after more than a decade at the Am Law 100 firm, where he headed its European competition and antitrust group after coming aboard in 2006 from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Gunther also served as co-chair of Willkie Farr's European committee. Giraud, meanwhile, spent four years at Willkie Farr, which he joined in 2014 and made partner the same year.

The American Lawyer reported Wednesday on Latham's hire of Michael Haas as a partner in New York, where he will serve as co-head of the firm's global real estate practice. Haas, a property transactions expert, spent the past decade at Jones Day, working out of that firm's offices in Cleveland and New York.