Pitching himself as an outward-facing leader has paid off for Linklaters M&A heavyweight Charlie Jacobs (pictured), who won the firm’s senior partner election last month.
Jacobs defeated competition from corporate colleagues Jean-Pierre Blumberg and Aedamar Comiskey to be elected the new senior partner at the Magic Circle firm.
Jacobs will replace Robert Elliott when he finishes a five-year term at the end of September.
While other candidates pledged to concentrate on internal matters at the firm’s April hustings in Berlin, Jacobs said he would be disappointed if at least half his time was not externally focused.
The South African-born corporate lawyer has been the face of Linklaters’ M&A team in recent years and has long been regarded as the favourite for the role. Jacobs, who has been handed a five-year term, joined the firm in 1990 as a trainee and made partner just seven years after qualifying, in 1999.
He controls major client relationships at the firm, including mining and commodities giant Glencore, which he advised on its $12bn London flotation in 2011 in one of the biggest initial public offerings (IPOs) ever to hit the London market. One of the busiest FTSE 100 companies in recent years, Jacobs subsequently advised Glencore on its $29bn merger with Xstrata in 2013 and is advising on its ongoing plans to slash $10.2bn from its $30bn debt pile. Jacobs also landed a lead role last year on the world’s biggest brewing deal, advising SABMiller on its mammoth $72bn takeover by Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Jacobs had the strongest business pedigree of the trio, having long had non-executive director posts at Mexican mining group Fresnillo, which he once helped to IPO, and banking group Investec.
While one partner at the firm recently told Legal Business that it was proving ‘hard to find people to run against Charlie’, he faced late opposition from Comiskey, whose run for the senior partner post was believed to have picked up considerable support and split the vote among the firm’s corporate practice.
With banking chief Gideon Moore having recently replaced Simon Davies as managing partner, Jacobs forms part of a new-look leadership team that faces key strategic decisions on how to deal with more profitable US rivals in the City while growing its own US practice.
One former Linklaters partner said: ‘He’s a big man for a big job. Linklaters has its challenges and the previous regime didn’t endear themselves to the partnership, but Charlie will build bridges and get them going again.’
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk