Wragge & Co has finally settled its succession issue by appointing Quentin Poole as senior partner and former head of corporate Richard Haywood as managing partner

Both were hot favourites for the positions and will take over in May next year.
Poole, who was unopposed, replaces current senior partner John Crabtree, who will stay in a semi-managerial role. Several partners are understood to have stood against Haywood, but he was eventually elected by an overall majority.
Haywood is head of a corporate team that targets FTSE 100 clients. He was involved in several big client wins and will remain as relationship partner for key clients. When they take office, Poole and Haywood will carry out a wholesale review of Wragges’ strategy.
Despite Wragges’ recent hire of Gerald Bland from Herbert Smith to found a City-based property team, Poole downplayed the importance of London in a review. He said that international strategy would be the key consideration. “Two or three years ago, people turned their noses up at best friends networks; but look at Slaughter and May and Herbert Smith now,” he said, although he refused to rule out any form of foreign expansion in the future.