The head of Eversheds’ Nottingham office is to step down from the role of senior office partner after 31 years at the firm.
David Wild, who is a specialist in corporate finance and management buy-outs and who commands a strong reputation in the local business community, will retire at the end of the financial year and has taken the decision to leave the law entirely.
“When you retire, you’re either cutting edge or you’re not,” he told TheLawyer.com.
He will be replaced by office location head for company and commercial James Fry, who will take over as senior office partner on 2 January 2010.
A former colleague of Fry said that he thought Eversheds’ decision to promote a non-contentious IP and healthcare partner to the office’s most senior role could mark a change in strategy. But Fry denied that this was the case, emphasising that it would be business as usual.
Wild has been a fixture of the Nottingham market since joining Eversheds 31 years ago. He has been a partner at the firm for 25 of those years.
“Nottingham’s always outpunched its weight in terms of the legal community, [because] it has two very good universities with very good law schools,” he said.
Eversheds recently hit the news after launching a fourth round of job cuts, with 22 real estate lawyers at risk (10 September 2009).
A further 95 secretaries are set to be made redundant as the firm goes live with a new outsourcing contract for documentation work (10 September 2009).
