Travers Smith re-elects Edmund Reed for second term as managing partner

Appointment follows Travers ringing in record financial results in FY23/24

Edmund Reed Credit: Travers Smith

Edmund Reed has been reelected as managing partner of top City independent Travers Smith. 

Reed, a leading private equity lawyer, will begin his second term on 1 July 2025. He first took up the managing partner post in July 2021 after being elected unopposed to succeed David Patient, with his second term to last three years. 

Reed will lead the 390-lawyer firm alongside senior partner Andy Gillen, who took over in January after his predecessor, Kathleen Russ, stepped down from the role following a period of leave for exceptional family reasons. 

Gillen commented: “Edmund has done an outstanding job as managing partner over the last few years and I am delighted that he has been reappointed for a second term. The partners voted overwhelmingly in favour of an extended three-year term, which reflects the excellent job he has done to date, and the value we place in his leadership.  

“We have already made significant progress in driving our business forwards, with our recent improved financial performance testament to this, and I am excited to continue working closely together as we push on at pace, to meet our collective ambitions to be a leading law firm that thrives in our chosen markets.”

Reed’s re-election follows the firm reporting record financial results for 2023/24, growing revenue by 10% in the year to 30 June 2024 to £215m, with profits rising 22% to £77m and PEP increasing 18% to £1.3m. The results marked Travers turning the page on the previous two years, when challenging market conditions – exacerbated by the firm’s later year end – saw it post modest revenue gains and flat or falling PEP. 

Reed has also been at the helm while Travers negotiated raids by US and UK Magic Circle rivals, particularly at the start of last year when a string of high profile defections that included Ian Shawyer, the firm’s respected head of private equity, moving to Cleary. 

This year the firm has also seen private equity and M&A partners leave for Goodwin Procter and Linklaters, while in September senior tax partner Simon Skinner moved to Latham & Watkins and last month Mahesh Varia, head of the firm’s incentives and remuneration group, left for A&O Shearman

The firm bolstered its partner ranks with a six-strong promotions round in July and made lateral hires in the summer, recruiting partner Joel Grossmark from Blackstone Credit and Insurance for its funds group and infrastructure debt partner Ryan Ayrton from Watson Farley Williams. 

Reed has been a partner in Travers’ private equity and financial sponsors group since returning to the firm in 2005 and has had an active role in the firm’s management and the development of its business strategy for more than a decade, having been elected member of its partnership board since 2013.  

Under his leadership Travers has acted on more than 175 private and public M&A transactions and more than 30 equity capital markets transactions since 2021, and advised on just under 20% of all UK public bids made in 2023. It has also acted on more than 120 private equity backed transactions since 2021 and grown its cross-practice asset management business by more than 30% in the last three years.

Standout mandates for the firm’s disputes and investigations team have included acting for Hewlett Packard in its successful fraud claims against the former executives of Autonomy over its $11bn takeover of the UK software company. Last year the firm was also appointed by NatWest to conduct an independent review into its handling of the closing of Brexiteer Nigel Farage’s Coutts account, which sparked the resignations of group CEO Alison Rose and Coutts chief executive Peter Flavel. 

Reed has also overseen the introduction of an updated and improved benefits platform, Travers said, as well as an upgraded bonus scheme allowing for more flexibility to reward exceptional performance and the introduction of new policies related to employee wellbeing including its menopause policy. 

In terms of tech, the firm has introduced an AI Academy to train staff on how to use AI to increase productivity and efficiency, while last year it span out its AI technology products into a new software business – known as Jylo – that sells its online AI platform to the wider legal market. 

“I am extremely proud of our firm and the way in which we have responded to a dynamic market to set a new course in the years since I have become managing partner, and I am delighted to have been re-elected for a second term,” Reed said. “As a partner group we are excited and ambitious for our future, focused first and foremost on delivering an outstanding service to our clients, alongside providing our people with a supportive and collaborative environment in which they can thrive.”

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