Magic Circle firm Clifford Chance continues to overhaul its corporate governance structure and today (31 July) announced that global finance chief Mark Campbell will step down from his leadership position alongside head of the global capital markets practice David Dunnigan, to be replaced by London-based partners Rob Lee and Adrian Cartwright respectively.
Having both been in their roles since 2002, the firm said that Campbell and Dunnigan were at the end of their elected terms in office but will remain with the firm and ‘play an active role on client relationships’.
Other changes includes Dusseldorf partner Peter Dieners succeeding Andreas Dietzel as regional managing partner for Germany.
A firm vote this month saw a shakeup of its core governance structure to create a slimmed down 12-strong executive leadership group in place of its 16-member executive committee. Set to take effect on 1 September 2014 and chaired by managing partner Matthew Layton, the group will include three new global business units to cover financial markets, M&A and corporate transactions, and risk management and disputes.
Rob Lee will assume the global business unit leadership role for financial markets, while the firm’s current global head of corporate Guy Norman will take the global business unit leadership role for global M&A and corporate transactions. Longstanding global disputes chief Jeremy Sandelson, meanwhile, has been appointed global business unit leader for risk management and disputes.
Partners Evan Cohen and Peter Charlton remain in their positions as regional managing partners for the Americas and Asia Pacific respectively while Yves Wehrli will take the regional managing partner role for Continental Europe.
Further positions on the reformed executive group includes executive partner and general counsel Chris Perrin, global head of people and talent Laura King, chief financial officer Stephen Purse, and chief operating officer Amanda Burton.
On the restructure, Layton said: ‘At the heart of our agenda is an understanding of the significant shifts taking place in our clients’ worlds and in our own sector. Our energies will be focused on ensuring that we interpret what those shifts mean for our strategy, for the development of our client offer and for how we operate. We have a fantastic firm and we are absolutely committed to ensuring that clients experience the best of Clifford Chance every time they work with us.’
Sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk
