Linklaters has voted to re-elect its senior and managing partners following what the firm said was a record-breaking year, including ‘the biggest year-on-year increase in profit in more than 20 years’.
Senior partner Aedamar Comiskey and managing partner Paul Lewis have been re-elected by the partnership – ‘with overwhelming support’ – with their new terms set to run till 2029.
They were first appointed to their roles in 2021, and under their leadership, Linklaters has increased revenue by more than 25% from £1.67bn to £2.1bn in 2023-24, with this year’s results set to be announced imminently.
In the same timeframe, profit per equity partner has increased by 7% from £1.77m to £1.9m.
The firm’s ambition to grow its US business was bolstered last year with the opening of an M&A practice in New York with the hire of a six-lawyer corporate team from Shearman & Sterling, led by Legal 500 Hall of Famer George Casey, who was recently appointed as chairman of the Americas.
Further high-profile US hires have followed, including the former global co-head of A&O Shearman’s financial markets practice David Lucking and a four-partner litigation team from New York litigation boutique Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler.
Comiskey, a partner since 2001 and formerly the firm’s head of corporate, was elected to a five-year term as senior partner in May 2021, becoming the firm’s first female senior partner. She succeeded Charlie Jacobs, who left at the end of his five-year term to become JP Morgan’s co-head of investment banking.
Lewis, previously Linklaters’ global finance head, was elected to his current role in July 2021. A Linklaters lifer and a partner since 2006, he succeeded Gideon Moore, who served a truncated second term in order to bring the managing partner and senior partner terms into sync.
Declaring herself ‘delighted’ to be extending her term as senior partner. Comiskey said: ‘This is an exciting time for our firm. We have bold ambitions and everything we need to achieve them.’
Lewis added that the firm had made ‘significant progress’ towards putting the firm in ‘the strongest position to win the most complex, cross-border mandates for the world’s leading corporates, banks, funds and financial sponsors.’
The re-elections mean that Comiskey will continue as senior partner until 30 September 2029, and Lewis will continue as firmwide managing partner until 31 December 2029.
