Slaughter and May outgoing senior partner Chris Saul is to set up a mediation advisory boutique this autumn upon leaving the firm.
Saul, who has been at Slaughters for nearly 40 years, registered the new company, Christopher Saul Associates, at the start of March.
At the boutique Saul will manage and mediate commercial disputes, as well as be an intermediary in disputes. While at Slaughters, Saul has acted for an array of clients such as Banco Santander and General Electric, and he is looking to appeal to his current contacts, as well as other privately-owned businesses.
“I was keen to go and do something else, having enjoyed my time as a transactional lawyer,” Saul told The Lawyer.
“It will initially just be me, but I shall be drawing upon my network of current contacts to help me with individual matters and look to build the business up as time goes on.”
Saul announced he was retiring from the firm last summer, with his term as senior partner coming to an end later this month. He is to be replaced in the top job by M&A head Steve Cooke.