Shearmans elects European partner to policy committee

Top five New York-based firm Shearman & Sterling has elected a non-New York partner to its executive policy committee for the first time ever.

The managing partner of the Paris office of the firm, Emmanuel Gaillard, joins four New York colleagues plus managing partner Whitney Pidot and senior partner Stephen Volk on the seven-member group.

Gaillard has just been elected to the post following a ballot of approximately 180 partners within the worldwide operation. Under the firm's electoral system, all partners put forward a list of suggestions. There was then an election to choose between the five most requested partners.

Pidot refuses to comment on who the other four partners in the final round were, but says there were two other non-New York partners.

Pidot says: "This is a real validation of the make-up that we are trying to create, without it being necessary for us to say to the partners you must have that representation from Europe.

"It could just as easily have been a partner from any one of the other offices, this was a spontaneous act."

Pidot says the firm no longer sees itself as a New York firm and is trying to create a global outlook. By later this year, the number of lawyers in Shearman & Sterling's offices outside New York will surpass the number based in the city.

Gaillard is the head of the firm's international arbitration practice as well as practising international litigation and anti-trust law. He has been a partner at the firm for five years, and has been at the helm in Paris since 1997.

He will serve on the policy committee of the firm for the next five years, as one member is replaced each year on a rotational basis.

Shearman & Sterling has European offices in London, France and Germany, as well as in Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, plus four in the US. The firm has nearly 700 lawyers worldwide.

New York: Galliard is the first committee member not to be based in the city