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New leadership for Addleshaws with election of John Joyce to managing partner

Addleshaw Goddard has today (16 May) announced the appointment of business support and restructuring head John Joyce as managing partner for a three-year term after a contested election against real estate head Adrian Collins, following outgoing chief Paul Devitt’s ahead-of-term resignation.

Devitt stood down more than a year before his term was due to end on 30 April 2015. The 174-partner firm carried out a soundings process followed by a formal period for nominations, which closed around Easter time and moved to a formal vote this month.

Addleshaw Goddard made it into the headlines in recent months when it emerged that it had miscalculated partner profit points and overestimated its profitability on one measure at the halfway point of its 2013/14 financial year.

The firm said it reviewed its procedures after underestimating the number of allocated equity points but stressed that it would not impact on underlying profitability.

Senior partner Monica Burch told Legal Business in early April: ‘It’s the pizza and slices analogy: the profitability isn’t affected, the size of the pizza isn’t affected, but the size of the slices were thought to be bigger. The points are slightly less valuable than they thought they were.’

Burch said of Joyce’s appointment: ‘Our congratulations go to John Joyce, as well as our thanks to both Adrian Collins and John for standing.

‘At a time when businesses continue to concentrate instructions amongst smaller groups of law firms, we have retained and greatly improved our position and opportunity with many significant clients. We have gained a strong reputation for innovation and for commitment to and understanding of clients’ needs. We have developed our sector focus and expertise, both in areas of traditional strength for the firm such as financial services, and in other areas such as energy and rail. We have significantly increased our international capability. And we have invested in building the experience and expertise within the partner group. Our thanks go to Paul Devitt for his leadership over the past five years and for his significant contribution to all of this.

‘We now look forward to the future with John as managing partner, and, as a partnership, to formulating our strategy for the next phase of Addleshaw Goddard’s development.’

Joyce (pictured) added: ‘I am delighted to serve as managing partner of Addleshaw Goddard, and to drive forward our firm’s growth and development. We have great clients and great lawyers and it is a privilege to have been given the responsibility to lead our continued progress and to helping the firm fulfil its potential.’

Sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

For further analysis and commentary on Addleshaw Goddard see Comment: Democracy and half measures are not delivering for Addleshaws