Mishcon de Reya has today (30 March) announced a three-strong all-female partner promotions round for this year, as well as appointing real estate partner Philip Freedman QC to succeed current chair John Jackson.
The female trio includes litigator and sports lawyer Liz Ellen, commercial trial lawyer Victoria Pigott, and real estate litigator Emma Macintyre.
Mishcon de Reya managing partner Kevin Gold (pictured) said: ‘As we continue to develop our business we welcome these talented and hard-working individuals to our senior team and value their on-going contribution to the firm.’
The firm’s appointment of heavyweight real estate lawyer Freedman will take effect in April. He succeeds Jackson who became the firm’s non-solicitor chair in 1992 and the first non-solicitor to chair a London law firm. Jackson will now serve as chairman emeritus.
Both the promotions and chair appointment come during a period of structural change at the City firm, and this month Legal Business revealed it has kick-started the process for its firmwide strategy review and is currently interviewing external consultants to help shape its vision. This will involve maintaining its focus on private client and litigation work, as well as the issue of internationalisation, of which the latter task has been delegated to partners Adam Rose and Kasra Nouroozi.
It is further set to move to an all-equity partnership this autumn and convert to a limited liability partnership, following a vote made in early 2014. It further acquired an alternative business structure licence in February from the Solicitors Regulation Authority, a move that was prompted by bringing up to four key employees into the partnership.
sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk
