Fieldfisher has elected a successor to senior partner David Wilkinson as it moves to realise its ambition of becoming Europe’s leading law firm.
London-based litigator Vivien Davies was one of four candidates in the running to be senior partner and will step into the role on 1 April 2025 at the end of Wilkinson’s second term.
As senior partner, Davies will lead the firm’s supervisory board, representing the interests of the firm’s partnership. She is expected to support the strengthening of the firm’s client relationships, industry sector programme and growing European platform, which has expanded into Austria and Italy in recent years.
Robert Shooter, who was elected for a second term as Fieldfisher’s managing partner last year, said Davies would be “instrumental” in fostering a culture of collaboration and service quality across the firm.
“[Davies] is highly regarded as a colleague and a leader, committed to delivering the best for our clients and the firm,” he added.
Davies joined Fieldfisher in 2015, having been a partner at London commercial firm Edwin Coe. Earlier she practised at legacy Royds.
Her commercial disputes practice includes shareholder actions, banking and financial disputes, partnership disputes and professional negligence, and she has also played a key role in building Fieldfisher’s top-tier sanctions practice.
Davies has particular experience working with Middle Eastern and North African clients and heads Fieldfisher’s MENA desk; she is also part of the leadership team of the firm’s global dispute resolution group in London.
Davies’s election follows Fieldfisher growing turnover to £359m in FY23/24, marking its 11th consecutive year of growth with a 10% increase.
Meantime its profit per equity partner (PEP) – which stood at £966k for that period – has risen and fallen in line with the wider market, jumping 22% to just north of £1m in FY22, when many firms had a blockbuster year, before dipping 11% in FY23 to £930k.
Fieldfisher’s Europe growth push saw it cut ties with longstanding Italian partner firm Studio Associato Servizi Professionali Integrati in 2023 and last April relaunch its Italian operation as a fully integrated part of its network.
The firm opened with a team of 26 lawyers from its former ally and has since grown the team to more than 30 professionals across Milan and Bologna.
In 2023, the firm also set up shop in Vienna with eight lawyers hired from regional firm SCWP Schindhelm and two boutiques, and now has 14 offices in continental Europe.
Fieldfisher said it had grown lawyer headcount in the past year by nearly 100 to 1,060, including the former head of Hausfeld’s commercial disputes practice, John McElroy, who joined the firm in London last July.
Meantime, the firm’s commitment to ESG saw it hire Nicole Bigby last year from BCLP as its first ESG director and create a new partner collaboration framework as part of its 2025 strategy.
Davies commented: “The last few years have been transformative for our firm, as we have expanded our footprint and impact in the European market. One of my priorities will be to foster collaboration between our teams, so that we can deliver outstanding results for our clients across the international network. It will be an honour to work alongside Rob and the firm’s wider management on taking Fieldfisher to the next stage of its development.”
Wilkinson, who has been Fieldfisher’s senior partner since 2019, will stay on as a corporate partner at the firm after stepping down.
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