Taylor Wessing overhauls UK management setup
Taylor Wessing overhauls UK management setup" />Taylor ;Wessing ;has slashed its UK management team in a bid to streamline decision-making processes.
Seven practice head roles have been scrapped and replaced with three divisional directors, each of whom is responsible for representing a number of practice groups.
The move ties in to Taylor Wessing’s strategy of operating along sector and client lines rather than traditional legal practice areas.
UK managing partner Michael Frawley said: “The underlying objective was to continue to align our practice groups to build on the synergies between these various groups.”
The divisional director positions have been handed to finance partner Rodney Dukes, private equity partner Tim Eyles and IP partner Charles Lloyd. They will sit on the international management board alongside Frawley. HR director Jonathan Croucher has become practice director, a hybrid role between chief operating officer and HR director.
Dukes’ division will focus on real estate, finance and insolvency; Eyles’ division will include the corporate, private equity, commercial, private client and employment and pensions groups; and Lloyd’s group will cover areas such as telecommunications, ;media ;and technology, ;IP ;and commercial disputes.
The German management structure is also being streamlined along sector lines, although, given that the firm has five offices in Germany, the structure will differ to that in the UK.
According to the firm, the management changes are not connected to the turmoil in the firm’s Paris office (TheLawyer.com, 6 August), where a number of partners have defected to Nixon Peabody, prompting legal action between the firms.
