Clifford Chance elect first non-London senior partner, but Magic Circle glass ceiling remains
Law firm Clifford Chance today appointed its first senior partner from outside London, but the Magic Circle’s record of never having appointed a woman to a top job remained in place.
Partners at the £1.6bn legal giant today elected Amsterdam office managing partner Jeroen Ouwehand as its new senior partner, a role equivalent to the chair of a public company.
It is the first time the firm has elected a partner from outside London to the senior partner role, despite having an extensive office network across Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and North America.
Disputes partner Ouwehand beat Paris managing partner Yves Wehrli in the final round of voting to win the role.
He will succeed incumbent Malcolm Sweeting and serve a four-year term, starting on 1 January.
Ouwehand’s appointment re-emphasises the glass ceiling women in City law face, with a women never having taken one of the top jobs at the London-headquartered elite firms.
Five partners were in the race for the role, with only one woman, insurance head Katherine Coates, who did not make the final run-off.
None of the Magic Circle firms – Linklaters, Slaughter and May, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Allen & Overy and Clifford Chance – have ever elected a female managing partner or senior partner.
In 2016, Linklaters corporate head Aedamar Comiskey was a surprise package in a three-horse race for the senior partner role, losing out to corporate rainmaker Charlie Jacobs.
Her inclusion in the race followed criticism of Linklaters, Allen & Overy and Freshfields for their exclusively male slates of candidates in previous elections.