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Clifford Chance has elected Amsterdam head Jeroen Ouwehand as its first ever senior partner based outside the City.

The news comes after Ouwehand, who also leads the firm’s continental European litigation and dispute resolution practice, was hotly tipped internally as being the successor to Malcolm Sweeting.

The first round of partnership voting last week saw two of the five hopefuls drop out – UK-based insurance head Katherine Coates and former capital markets chief David Dunnigan – leaving Ouwehand pitted against London head David Bickerton and ex-Europe chief Yves Wehrli.

Ouwehand has been office managing partner in CC’s Amsterdam office since 2015 and was a member of its partner selection group from 2010-2015.  He will take up his four-year term as senior partner on 1 January.

‘For an international firm like Clifford Chance to have never had a senior partner outside of London is surprising,’ one Clifford Chance partner told Legal Business. ‘Ouwehand is an international guy, and that’s seen as a positive.’

The election of Ouwehand also heralds another break with tradition, which has typically seen finance partners take up the role. Stuart Popham led the London banking practice before taking over as senior partner (previous senior partners Keith Clark and Michael Bray were also banking lawyers).

Sweeting commented: ‘Jeroen will make an excellent senior partner for the firm. During his career at Clifford Chance, he has demonstrated a deep commitment to our clients, a sharp understanding of how the world they operate in is changing, and what that means for our firm, our clients and our markets.  As we focus on our future, and how we realise our vision globally, this ability to integrate effectively an external perspective with the dynamics of our partnership and wider firm will be crucial.’

Ouwehand said: ‘This is a fantastic firm, with huge opportunities ahead of us.  I am greatly looking forward to working alongside my fellow partnership council members, with Matthew [Layton, managing partner], the partnership and all of our talented colleagues across the firm to ensure that we are constantly challenging ourselves to anticipate and respond to changing global and economic realities, to the march of technology and an increasingly complex legal landscape.’

nathalie.tidman@legalease.co.uk

The likelihood of Clifford Chance’s (CC) next senior partner being based outside London has surged after the first round of voting.

UK-based insurance head Katherine Coates and former capital markets chief David Dunnigan have dropped out of the race to become Malcom Sweeting’s successor  at CC, after none of the five candidates secured more than 50% of votes in the first round.

The three remaining candidates include former London head David Bickerton, ex-Europe chief Yves Wehrli and continental Europe litigation head Jeroen Ouwehand. The second round of votes closes today (12 November) but the election could be extended if none of the candidates get the backing of more than half of the partnership.

Little known outside the firm but well established within its contentious practice, Amsterdam managing partner Ouwehand is now considered the favourite by some after several partners insisted for months a non-London based senior partner would help build the image of the firm as a global outfit.

The election of Ouwehand or Wehrli would also mean a break with recent tradition which has seen the firm’s finance partners handed the role. Both Sweeting and his predecessor Stuart Popham led the London banking practice before taking over as senior partner (previous senior partners Keith Clark and Michael Bray were also banking lawyers).

But with well-liked finance partner Bickerton still in contention, it remains hard to call. The extension of the race to a second round underlines this year’s particularly competitive contest. Sweeting won the election after the first round in 2010 and then stood unopposed when re-elected in 2014. Managing partner Matthew Layton also stood unopposed for his second term, which began in May this year.

The two candidates who dropped out of the race had held global management roles for years, with Dunnigan leading the firm’s capital markets practice for 12 years until 2014. Coates, who heads both the London financial institutions group and the global insurance sector team, would have been the firm’s first female senior partner.

marco.cillario@legalbusiness.co.uk

Leadership at Clifford Chance (CC) has over the last 20 years swung wildly between prestige and poisoned chalice but the just-launched race to become the London giant’s new senior partner shows no shortage of candidates.

Former London head David Bickerton (pictured) and ex-Europe chief Yves Wehrli launched their bids to become CC’s next senior partner, Legal Business has learnt. Other prominent figures in the race to replace Malcolm Sweeting after eight years include insurance head Katherine Coates, former capital markets chief David Dunnigan and continental Europe litigation chief Jeroen Ouwehand.

The five candidates presented their pitches to the partnership in recent days and the vote will take place by the end of October. Sweeting’s second term expires at the end of the year.

Despite being widely tipped as a popular candidate, former litigation head Jeremy Sandelson is not on the ballot.

This leaves well-liked finance partner Bickerton, who stepped down as London head in 2017 after eight years, as a strong candidate. Nevertheless, with five experienced candidates, it remains an open race.

The role has traditionally been in the hands of influential finance lawyers, befitting CC’s heritage as one of Europe’s elite debt counsel. Both Sweeting and his predecessor Stuart Popham led the London banking practice before taking over as senior partner (previous senior partners Keith Clark and Michael Bray were also banking lawyers).

The other two London-based candidates have held global management roles for years, with Dunnigan leading the 557-partner firm’s capital markets practice for 12 years until 2014. The election of Coates, who heads both the London financial institution group and the global insurance sector team, would send a strong message from a firm which has long been seeking to improve gender balance. Despite a target for women to make up 30% of the partnership set back in 2009, CC counted 18.2% female partners in 2017.

The election sees Paris managing partner Wehrli on the ballot again after he lost to Matthew Layton in the race to managing partner in 2014. According to one former CC partner, Wehrli’s candidacy to senior partner has been floated for years. After he lost to Layton, many said the Frenchman would be better suited for an ambassadorial rather than an executive role. He led CC’s continental European practice for four years before stepping down in April, replaced by Charles Adams.

Some partners have in recent months pointed to the fact that a non-London based senior partner would help build the image of CC as a global outfit, giving some support to Wehrli and Amsterdam managing partner Ouwehand.

Not sitting on the management committee, the senior partner role was traditionally considered to carry less weight than practice heads but the sprawling nature of CC’s management has often meant strong figures in the role like Popham could wield considerable clout.

As such, Sweeting is said to have played a key role in supporting Layton’s objectives, such as changes to the firm’s remuneration structure. A former partner said: ‘When there is a big change, it is really the senior partner going around with the partnership council, talking to everyone, making sure their voices are heard, ensuring check and balance.’

The senior partner race comes at an interesting moment for CC’s development in a global legal industry increasingly defined by US law firms. Despite the Magic Circle in general having a subdued period of trading since the banking crisis a decade ago, CC under the leadership of Layton is acknowledged to have had some success in boosting productivity and paring back its notoriously flabby management ranks.

To have a hope of securing its global ambitions, the new senior partner will have to help galvanise an institution that has struggled to sustain the dash and clarity of its 1990s incarnation. Quite a challenge. Quite a prize.

marco.cillario@legalbusiness.co.uk