Travers Smith LLP has announced today the election of Edmund Reed as the firm’s new Managing Partner with effect from 1 July 2021. Edmund will succeed David Patient who has held the post since 2015.
Edmund is a partner in the firm's Private Equity & Financial Sponsors Group. Widely regarded as one of the leading private equity lawyers in the UK, Edmund has a broad corporate practice and advises on a range of M&A work, with a focus on private equity. He also has extensive experience advising private equity real estate funds and corporate clients on transactions involving real estate assets. His clients include private equity firms, such as Phoenix Equity Partners, Inflexion and Patron Capital, and large corporates including Ascential Group Plc and Foster + Partners.
Edmund joined Travers Smith in 1994 and became a partner in 2005. Between 2000 and 2004, he was an investment manager at Phoenix Equity Partners. In the last few years, Edmund has had an active role in the management of the firm and the development of Travers Smith’s business strategy, as an elected member of the Travers Smith Partnership Board since 2013.
Travers Smith’s Senior Partner Kathleen Russ said: “Many congratulations to Edmund on his appointment as our next Managing Partner. Edmund is an outstanding strategist, who combines a deep understanding of the benefits of the firm's independence, culture and ethos with innovative thinking and a highly commercial perspective. This is a period of transformation for the legal industry and with those challenges come opportunities. I very much look forward to working alongside Edmund as we move into a period of innovation and evolution and as we embrace these developments to build on the firm's current success and reputation in the market. I have no doubt that Edmund will do an exceptional job as our Managing Partner.
I would also like to thank our current Managing Partner, David Patient, for the immense contribution he has made to Travers Smith in the role of Managing Partner over the last six years. David has done an outstanding job leading the firm through an important period of development and growth over that period. The firm is particularly grateful for David's thoughtful leadership during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic."
Travers Smith's current Managing Partner David Patient said: “I would like to congratulate Edmund on his appointment as our next Managing Partner. With his in-depth knowledge of Travers Smith, business acumen and diversity of experience he has all the qualities to make an outstanding Managing Partner. I am extremely pleased to see him take up this key leadership role in the firm."
Edmund Reed commented: "Travers Smith is a vibrant and dynamic firm, with fantastic clients and a terrific team of highly skilled lawyers and business services professionals. Over the last few years, under David's leadership, we have built an outstanding business focused on our market-leading capability in asset management, M&A and disputes.
I am also proud of the way that the firm looks after its people, not just through the current pandemic, but in the wider sense including the significant progress we are making on diversity and inclusion.
I am very much looking forward to taking up the position of Managing Partner, repaying the trust that partners have placed in me, and working with Kathleen to build on the firm’s long-running success to ensure that our business continues to be well positioned for the future.”
