Slaughter and May announced today (10 November) that finance partner Paul Stacey is to be the firm’s new executive partner. He will take on the role as of May 2017, for a five year term.
Stacey (pictured) will replace Richard Clark who is to retire from the firm next April, when his four-year term as executive partner ends, after having served on Slaughters’ partnership board for 14 years. Clark joined Slaughters as a trainee in 1982 on the same day as senior partner Steve Cooke, and became a partner in 1991 and head of the firm’s dispute resolution group in 2008.
Stacey joined Slaughters in 1981 and became a finance partner in 1990. He specialises broadly in financing and projects and was head of the firm’s finance practice and partnership board member from 2011 until 2014.
As executive partner, he will be responsible for the firm’s overall management strategy including people, finance, technology and compliance and will work closely with Cooke and practice partner David Witmann who was also re-elected today for an extended five-year term from May 2017.
In January this year, the UK’s most profitable law firm also elected its longstanding head of M&A Cooke as its senior partner, who took on the reins in May for a five-year term. He succeeded Chris Saul who retired after eight years in the job.
Cooke had pledged to retain the firm’s City focus and promised to continue to run relationships and do client work. He holds key client relationships with power supplier Aggreko, computer processor maker ARM Holdings, house builder Barratt Developments and Rolls-Royce.
Stacey told Legal Business: ‘I will carry on the excellent work that Richard [Clark] has done and continue it – I am not planning on making any changes just carrying on with it.’
He added: ‘My expertise in finance will be available to the firm throughout my mandate, but the executive partner role is demanding and I will focus on it full time.’
georgiana.tudor@legalease.co.uk
