Four Baker & McKenzie partners have thrown their hats in the ring to replace global chair Eduardo Leite, The Lawyer can reveal.
London managing partner Paul Rawlinson, EMEA chair Gary Senior, Latin America chair Claudia Prado and former Paris managing partner Eric Lasry have all put themselves up for election to takeover from Leite as chairperson of the firm when he steps down this year.
It is understood whoever wins would have to step down from their current position.
Leite, who has served as global chair since 2010, was handed a two-year extension in 2014 after not being opposed in the firm’s internal elections. Leite replaced John Conroy as global chair in 2010.
Prado is the first woman to stand as global chair since Christine Lagarde, who was the firm’s first female chair from 1999 to 2004. Lagarde is now managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
Prado is on Bakers’ global executive committee, chairs the firm’s financial committee and diversity and inclusion committee, and is the regional chair of the Latin America regional council.
Before joining Bakers, Prado was managing partner at Brazilian law firm Trench Rossi e Watanabe Advogados, which has a cooperation agreement with Baker & McKenzie.
EMEA chair Senior is also a member of Baker & McKenzie’s global executive committee. He became a partner in 1992 and was managing partner of the London office from 2003 until 2013.
Rawlinson is the current managing partner of Baker & McKenzie’s London office. He is a partner in Bakers’ IP practice and the former chair of the global IP practice group.
Lasry, who ran against Leite for the top role in 2010, previously served as managing partner of the Paris office. He was a member of the firm’s executive committee and chairman of the European Regional Council.
Baker & McKenzie’s Leite said in a statement to The Lawyer: “We have a fantastic and diverse pool of candidates for our next chairman, which is the result of careful succession planning, something we have done well at Baker & McKenzie. It’s an internal process and when we are ready to formally announce the successful nominee we will communicate externally.
“This should be by the time of our October annual partnership meeting. Until then we will not be commenting further.”
