Two of London’s most interesting law firms face interesting times. The more obvious manifestation of this is Herbert Smith’s decision to appoint its first managing partner since Andrew Congreve to back up David Gold as senior partner.
The logic isn’t hard to fathom, since Herbert Smith is one of the few major firms to operate without a managing partner. Bringing in the well-regarded corporate partner David Willis, seen as a natural for an implementation brief, has obvious advantages. It spreads the load and allows the firm to represent its key constituencies of litigation and corporate, a feat the firm has not had the greatest success with in recent years.
