Linklaters has reshuffled the leadership of its corporate team, moving a number of key roles down to rising stars following changes to senior management in the department.
Recently appointed global corporate head Aedamar Comiskey (pictured) has handed three of its group head roles to the next generation of corporate lawyers at the firm.
Simon Branigan, Nick Rumsby and Iain Wagstaff took over three of the firm’s corporate groups in September, each managing around ten partners and up to 40 trainees and associates. Energy specialist Owen Clay, a more senior Linklaters lawyer who made partner in 2000, will remain head of the fourth corporate group. The three take over the leadership roles for four year terms.
Rumsby’s appointment comes off the back of a summer dealing with the $108bn purchase of SABMiller by brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev. Branigan works with key client RBS as well as mining companies such as Anglo American. Wagstaff specialises in public and private M&A.
In addition, David Avery-Gee has been made head of the firm’s mining sector, taking on the job as Linklaters rainmaker Charlie Jacobs moves into his role as senior partner.
The moves follow the promotion of Comiskey to global head of corporate this summer after she stood for senior partner earlier in the year. Former corporate head Matthew Middleditch took on the role of global corporate chair at the firm, based in Hong Kong.
The three group heads replace corporate partners Roger Barron, John Lane and Stuart Bedford, who was also London corporate head, as their terms end. Bedford is set to exit the firm to join private equity house LeapFrog Investments as general counsel. The job of City corporate head has since been absorbed by Comiskey.
Comiskey told Legal Business: ‘We have a new leadership team in corporate and have moved a number of the leadership roles within the department in London down a generation. It’s great to see the next generation of partners coming through very strongly, complementing the talents and experience of our more senior partners.’
Separately, Linklaters announced yesterday (2 November) that Claudia Parzani would become Western Europe Regional managing partner. She takes over from Pieter Riemer for a four-year term.
matthew.field@legalease.co.uk
Read more on the City’s leading corporate teams in: ‘The M&A Report: To have and to have not’
