Tucker's (bad) luck leaves duo in frame for Links premiership

The Linklaters managing partner race is really hotting up. As we reveal today in The Lawyer, former frontrunner John Tucker has dropped out as the international board narrows the candidates down to two: capital markets head Nick Eastwell and corporate partner Simon Davies.

It may be a contest, but it isn't an election. Eastwell and Davies have to impress the partners, but the partners don't get to choose between them - at least, not directly.

Instead, the most powerful people in the firm at the moment are the 16 members of the international board, who are canvassing every single Linklaters partner and feeding back detailed comments about each of the candidates. In other words, this isn't going to be a popularity test. It's simply the biggest appraisal exercise you've ever seen.

Meanwhile, on The Lawyer's first podcast, current managing partner Tony Angel has his own thoughts on the meaning of partnership. It's available at www.thelawyerpodcast.com, or for those of you familiar with newfangled downloads, you can get it on iTunes.