Maher to lose vice-chair role in Mayer Brown rejig

Under the proposals a seven-strong committee responsible for day-to-day operational management will replace the current 17-member team. The firm will also establish a 12-partner supervisory board for its global network.

If the plan is approved by the firm’s partnership later this month, London partner Paul Maher and Washington DC partner Kenneth Geller will be stripped of their vice-chairman status and will not automatically gain places on the new ­management bodies.

A former Mayer Brown partner said: “The management structure had been crying out for a change for a very long time. Now that the firm has a significant ­international network it needs to be run more ­efficiently. ­Typically there have been too many people trying to make decisions quickly.”

The firm’s partnership has put forward Chicago ­partner Bert Krueger to take over the role of chair from James Holzhauer, who has held the post since 2007.
It is not yet clear whether London would have representation on either of the proposed new committees.

A former partner said: “Maher’s global role did give London and Europe ­significant representation. Perhaps Europe isn’t as much of a crucial part of Mayer Brown’s overall ­strategy as it once was.”

Mayer Brown declined to comment.