The CEO is empowered to appoint the Strategic Leadership Team (SLT), which is responsible for:

• ensuring the firm operates within the LLP’s Statement of Principles
• protecting the goodwill and reputation of the firm
• developing and implementing the firm’s strategy
• ensuring the firm complies with all relevant regulatory and legal requirements
• ensuring the firm participates in the wider economic environment as a responsible employer and contributor to growth
• putting quality at the heart of everything we do
• promoting collaboration and agility to enable the best ideas and approaches to be adopted
• designing our structure to further empower our people and reduce cultural hierarchy
• driving a profitable and sustainable firm.

The SLT communicates regularly with the partners and employees on a wide range of issues including strategy implementation, professionalism and quality, current developments and the firm’s values in action. Communication methods include office visits, the CEO’s blog, online employee engagement surveys, formal quarterly business updates across the firm, and meetings of the full partner group.

Partnership Governance Board (PGB)

The Partnership Governance Board (PGB) is responsible for the protection of members’ interests and the oversight of the management board. Its principal duties are:

• development of the firm’s Statement of Principles
• appointment (and, if required, the removal) of the CEO, subject to the vote of members
• establishing the CEO’s remuneration framework
• approving the firm’s leadership structure, and the terms and conditions relating to any management roles proposed by the CEO
• monitoring the CEO’s stewardship of the business
• overseeing the principles and criteria for profit sharing and preside over appeals in relation to profit share
• oversight of risk and quality policies and procedures
• approving the maximum borrowing limits of the LLP
• reviewing and approval of the amount of financial compensation payable to an outgoing partner in excess of £300,000 and those who hold a senior management role
• recognising that we have a public interest role that extends beyond the short-term interests of the partners.

The PGB consists of members elected by the partners, three independent non-executive members (INEs), and three ex-officio non-voting members (being the CEO and two others – typically members of the SLT or the firm’s chief financial officer). Elected members are appointed for a period of three years, and may serve for one further consecutive term if re-elected.

Independent non-executives

The independent non-executive (INEs) are responsible for contributing to the overall governance of the firm, and specifically:

• the firm’s recognition of its public interest responsibilities and its attitude towards quality
• the firm’s approach to risk management and governance
• issues raised under whistleblowing policies and procedures. 

The INEs attend all PGB meetings and are invited to attend partners’ meetings, and to meet with the CEO. Ed Warner was appointed Chair of the PGB on 1 April 2016. In addition, one of the INEs sits on the Risk and Audit Committee and another on the Remuneration Committee.INE appointments are subject to formal FCA approval and are for an initial term of three years, unless terminated earlier by and at the discretion of either party upon one month’s written notice. They can be re-appointed by the Elected members for additional terms and where any INE’s term would exceed nine years this would be subject to particularly rigorous review and explanation.

In the event that there was a fundamental disagreement between an INE and either the PGB or the SLT, that could not be resolved following discussions with the chair of the PGB and the CEO, and as a result the INE resigned from the firm, the fact that there had been such a disagreement would be disclosed in the firm's transparency report.

• Information about the appointment, role and responsibilities of the INEs (PDF) [ 79 kb ]
• Risk and audit committee’s terms of reference (PDF) [ 342 kb ]
• Remuneration committee’s terms of reference (PDF) [ 251 kb ]
• Public interest committee's terms of reference (PDF) [ 161 kb ]
• Partnership Oversight Board's term’s of reference (PDF) [ 131 kb ]
• Strategic Leadership Team's term’s of reference (PDF) [ 43 kb ]