Baker & McKenzie’s partners have elected London managing partner Paul Rawlinson as the firm’s next global chairman.
Rawlinson will be the firm’s first UK-based chairman, and will succeed Eduardo Leite in October this year. He will remain London managing partner – a role he has held since 2013 – until then.
Rawlinson beat EMEA chair Gary Senior, Latin America chair Claudia Prado and former Paris managing partner Eric Lasry in a contested election for the role.
Leite replaced John Conroy as global chair in 2010 and was handed a two-year extension in 2014 after not being opposed in the firm’s internal elections.
Rawlinson joins Bakers in 1986 and was promoted to the partnership in 1996. He led the firm’s global intellectual property group between 2004 and 2010 before becoming London managing partner. He also serves on the global policy committee.
He has helped develop a number of initiatives at Bakers, including the establishment of the firm’s service centres in Belfast and Manila.
