Within weeks of electing the firm’s new leadership, Allen & Overy has announced London corporate head Richard Browne has joined Dirk Meeus as joint leader of the firm’s global corporate practice.
The position in London became available when Andrew Ballheimer – who has been global co-head of corporate alongside Meeus since 2010 – was recently appointed global managing partner.
The firm called for nominations in early March with just London-based Browne (pictured) putting his name forward and Meeus re-elected to serve another term.
A spokesperson for A&O said: ‘Both Dirk and Richard stood unopposed and will commence their four-year term on 1 May 2016 while maintaining their roles as fee-earning partners.’
Meeus is managing partner of A&O Belgium alongside his role as global corporate head, and specialises in M&A, equity capital markets and private fundraising.
Browne has a broad practice covering public takeover bids, auctions and other private sale and purchase transactions, joint ventures and a range of equity capital markets transactions. He was appointed London corporate head in 2010 and notable mandates last year include leading the A&O team advising Banco Sabadell on its £1.7bn takeover bid for TSB.
The firm confirmed that an ‘internal process is underway to appoint a new managing partner for the London corporate practice’.
At the end of February, A&O announced Ballheimer will replace Wim Dejonghe as global managing partner in May this year for an initial term of four years, as Dejonghe moves to the senior partner position, replacing the retiring David Morley after winning the election.
jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk
