An ambition to improve business services at Travers Smith has seen senior partner Chris Hale re-elected, after completing his first term of four years.
Hale, who in 2013 amended the firm’s partnership deed to restrict his own term in the job, will retire from the senior partner post in 2019 after a further two-year stint. In the past, senior partners had a three-year term, but there was no limit to the number of terms one could complete.
Hale stood uncontested in the election and ran on a platform promising to continue the professionalisation of support services at the firm.
He said: ‘When I first became senior partner, a lot of what was traditionally done by business support services was done by the partners themselves. We didn’t have enough high-quality business service leaders in human resources, business development and finance. What we’re aiming to do is increase the quality of those service areas with the objective of relieving partners from doing that work, enabling them to focus on what they were trained to do.’
Travers head of corporate Spencer Summerfield said: ‘Dare I say it? We’re moving into the 21st century. The internal services have become so much more professionalised.’
‘We’re aiming to relieve partners from support work, enabling them to focus on what they were trained to do.’
Chris Hale, Travers Smith
Part of Hale’s cachet comes from the effective working relationship he has established with managing partner David Patient. Patient took over from Andrew Lilley in January 2015 and since then has formed a collaboration with Hale to lead the firm successfully.
Travers head of private equity Paul Dolman describes Patient as more ‘hands on’ than his counterpart and added: ‘Chris brings a lifetime of experience, which David is very good at tapping into.’
Patient, whose own term expires in the middle of next year, said the relationship is founded on bouncing ideas off each other. ‘It’s very much a duo working together.’
Hale added: ‘We know each other well, we work well together, we respect each other, I like David and that helps oil the wheels of running the firm.’
tom.baker@legalease.co.uk