Highly-respected M&A practitioner Steve Cooke (pictured) has had his term as senior partner at Slaughter and May extended until 2024.
Cooke was first elected to senior partner at the City institution in 2016 for a five-year term after a long stint spearheading the firm’s M&A practice. His current term runs until 2021, with the extension meaning Cooke will have been in the role for eight years.
‘There’s not been any big strategy changes over the first term,’ Cooke told Legal Business. ‘The partnership is very aligned around the current strategy – what would we wish to change? You just try to keep doing it better.’
He succeeded Chris Saul who also served for eight years. Cooke has been at Slaughters for 36 years and has establishing himself as one of the City’s leading transactional lawyers – a practice he will maintain throughout his tenure. He believes the past year has been a good one for the firm.
‘The year was pretty good considering the headwinds of uncertainty. The hire of David Green and our ongoing work with Luminance are standouts,’ said Cooke.
Earlier this year in March Slaughters engaged a rare lateral hire in Hong Kong, with Jing Chen joining the firm’s partnership from the Listing Division of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited. Alongside the hire the firm made up one partner in the City, with finance lawyer Harry Bacon promoted to the firm’s partnership ranks.