Travers Smith elects Reed as managing partner

Travers Smith has elected Edmund Reed as managing partner, succeeding David Patient who has held the position since January 2015.

Reed is a partner in Travers Smith’s private equity & financial sponsors group. His corporate practice encompasses M&A with a focus on PE. He also advises private equity real estate funds and corporate clients on transactions that involve real estate assets. Reed’s private equity clients include Phoenix Equity Partners, Inflexion, ECI and Patron Capital.

He joined the firm in 1994 as a trainee before being promoted to associate in 1996. Reed left Travers Smith and joined Phoenix Equity Partners in 2000 as an investment manager. After four years at the private equity firm, he rejoined Travers Smith as a senior associate and was promoted within a year to partner.

Since rejoining Travers Smith, he has been involved in the firm’s management and development of its business strategy, having been an elected member of the partnership board since 2013. According to Reed, he is proud of the way the firm looks after its people and this includes the progress it’s making on D&I.

Commenting on Reed’s appointment, Kathleen Russ, senior partner at Travers Smith explained Reed 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,” she said.

Reed’s managing partner position is effective from 1 July 2021.