Eversheds Sutherland has made a seriesofleadershipappointments, naming new senior partnersinLondon and Birmingham and extending the term of the chairofits international board.
Global co-head of financial services disputes and investigationsMatthew Allen (pictured) has been handed the London senior partnerrole, while corporate partner Mark Beardmore has been appointed asthe firm's newBirmingham senior partner.
Allen has replaced financial services partner Pamela Thompson,who had held the London senior partnerrole since 2014, whileBeardmore is succeedingemployment partner David Beswick.Thompson and Beswick are remaining with the firmand willreturn to full-time fee earning.
London senior partner Allen said: London is where we have ourlargest office, with 400 lawyers including over 100 partners, andit is also a natural crossroads for global business. Thecombination with Sutherland Asbill & Brennan has served tore-emphasise its importance and the great internationalopportunities open to us.
Separately, the firm has also extended the term of its international board chairman Alan Murphy by sixmonths. Hisfour-year term expired at the end of April, but ithas been extended to ensure leadership continuity in the light ofEversheds' recent tie-up with US firm Sutherland.
The board is made up ofthe managing partners of the firm'snetwork of non-financially integrated offices, known as EvershedsInternational.
Murphy, who is managing partner of Eversheds Ireland, succeededthe firm's former CEO David Gray as the board's chair followingGray's retirement. Gray had established the board in 2009 topromote cohesion and integration across the firm's internationaloffices.
Murphy'sterm will now end in November, at which point theboard will elect asuccessor.
The news comes after the merger of Eversheds and Sutherland wentlive on 1 February this year. The new firm is led by co-CEOs LeeRanson and Mark Wasserman, who recently launched a transatlanticassociate secondment programme at the firm's first post-mergerpartner conference.