Linklaters has elected four new members to its most senior governance board responsible for strategic and other major decisions at the Magic Circle Firm.
The new members of the international board are London capital markets partner Paul Lewis in place of outgoing City partner Michael Kent, Düsseldorf corporate partner Klaus Hoenig who takes over from Frankfurt partner Eva Reudelhuber, Moscow capital markets partner Dmitry Dobatkin in place of retired former Moscow colleague John Goodwin, and Antwerp corporate partner Jean-Pierre Blumberg in place of Brussels-based litigation head Francoise Lefevre.
The board is led by senior partner Robert Elliott as chairman and managing partner Simon Davies in a non-voting capacity. A total of 14 elected partners represent the geographic and practice spread of the firm.
Other members include Alain Garnier representing France, Wolfgang Krauel for Germany, Alberto Luzarraga from the Americas, Teresa Ma from Asia, Davide Menacci representing South Europe and London partners William Buckley, Ian Karet, Greg Reid, Tom Shropshire and Nick Syson representing the corporate, commercial and finance departments.
The official term for an international board member is three years and new appointments take place in three tranches so that the make-up of the board changes every year. According to Syson, this staggered approach means ‘you always get continuity’ rather than the entire board changing every three years. Partners are able to serve two three-year terms.
Previous members include corporate rainmaker Charlie Jacobs and banking partner David Eriera who stepped down last year.
The board appoints the members of Linklaters executive committee (Excom), which is responsible for the day-to-day management of the firm. Excom is chaired by Davies and includes Linklaters most senior lawyers, including managing partner for Europe Pieter Riemer, regional managing partner for the Americas John Turnbull, managing partner for Asia Stuart Salt and EEMEA managing partner Sandeep Katwala.
david.stevenson@legalease.co.uk
