City firms swap executive decision for electoral reform

Giant modern city law firms are democratising the process of senior partnership elections, reports Jeremy Fleming

The giant City practices now find that conducting elections for senior partner positions has become a major project management issue.

Allen & Overy - currently preparing to elect its managing partner - uses an independent facilitator called the Electoral Reform Ballot Services (ERBS).

An A&O spokesman explains: 'Partners throughout the firm's 26 global offices are sent nomination forms by the company, they then have three weeks to make nominations.' Partners wishing to nominate themselves may do so if they have a proposer and a seconder.

The forms are sent back to ERBS by courier, which compiles a list of all nominations that is published to the partnership.

A three-day 'cooling off' period ensues, during which those nominated can consider their positions in the light of other nominations.

They can then withdraw their nominations if they wish, before the ERBS sends ballots out to the partnership.

Partners' votes are couriered back from all over the world to London, where they are counted using a single transferable vote system which enables the ERBS to conclude a winner from the first ballot.

The ERBS was introduced at the last set of elections held at Allen & Overy, when Bill Tudor John replaced Guy Beringer as managing partner.

Before that the elections took place on the basis of informal discussions held among the partnership.

The result is expected in mid-December.

Meanwhile, at rival City giant Clifford Chance, rolling elections are underway as part of the ongoing implementation of the firm's new governance structure.

Peter Cornell has taken over as managing partner following his election last year, and Stuart Popham has replaced Keith Clark as senior partner.

In addition, regional managing partners in London, Asia, the US and Germany and candidates have been elected to two new executive partner positions.

But with the firm being such a massive organisation, there are still elections to be held for heads of department for capital markets, corporate finance, real estate, litigation and tax, pensions and employment.

The final round of elections - which will take place this December - will decide membership of the partnership council, a group of 11 partners selected on a regional basis acts as a 'shareholder representative' group for the wider partnership.

Keith Solway, the partnership secretary at Clifford Chance, says the firm's election process kicked in after the practice decided that 'the best way was not men in grey suits but open nominations'.

Each partner nominates five partners, from which a list of the top five partners were put on a shortlist and offered to the general vote.

The voting system differs from Allen & Overy insofar as the nominations and voting are carried out on-line.

Mr Solway explains: 'Candidates may put manifestos up on a secure Web area.

These are accessed by the partnership using individual passwords, and they are then enabled to vote on-line.'

Meanwhile, at Eversheds a mixture of internal and external expertise is employed in elections.

During the recent election of managing partner David Gray, the firm's internal appointments committee kicked off the process by requesting nominations.

A period of one month was allowed for nominees to issue manifestos, before ballots were issued to the partnership.

The ballots were then sent to ERBS to be counted.

Ultimately, technology and size are doing far more to promote democracy within the management of the large firms than the quiet voices of dissident partners ever managed.