Beveridge decided to "accelerate the transition to support the onboarding of his successor Adam Hakki in order to seamlessly pass the torch to the next generation of leadership," the spokesperson said.Shearman is one of several major U.S. law firms to have laid off lawyers or staff in the past few months. In February, it12 associates and 26 business services professionals, citing a need to "align our capacity levels with existing client demands.
Hakki, who has spent his entire 25-year-plus legal career at Shearman, has unanimous support from Beveridge and Shearman's executive group and policy committee, the firm said."We have made important progress in reshaping our business, and I believe this is the right time to begin a leadership transition to accelerate the pace of the firm’s ongoing transformation and the development of a new strategic vision," Beveridge said in a statement.