Herbies puts off partner consultation on top role

Herbert Smith has ­postponed a partnership consultation ;into ;the ­function of its managing partner role, instead opting to begin the process in the second half of 2009.

The firm’s senior partner David Gold appointed corporate partner David Willis as managing partner last year, saying at the time that he would write the particulars of the role into the firm’s constitution (The Lawyer, 12 May 2008).

While partners were due to be consulted on ­matters such as whether the managing partner and ­senior partner terms should run concurrently, this will now happen to coincide with the final few months of Willis’s and Gold’s terms, which both end in April 2010.

If the consultation concludes that the managing partner role should not come up for election at the same time as the senior partner role, it is possible that Willis’s term will be extended.