Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW) has appointed Nicholas Thompsell as senior partner.

He takes over from commercial and finance partner Jon Fife, who after 38 years at the firm moves to a part-time role in preparation for retirement.

hompsell, a former Slaughter and May associate, joined the corporate practice in 1992 and was promoted to partner the following year. He will serve an initial term of three years.

Thompsell said: “The firm is now unrecognisable in some ways from the firm I joined, but I’m pleased that, through all this growth, it’s kept the same cooperative ethos that attracted me to it.”