Linklaters has phased out its global COO role following what it describes as a “considerable evaluation” of its business leadership structure. The restructure follows the departure of global COO and CIO Matt Peers in January. Head of business teams functions that reported to Peers will now report to the appropriate members of the executive committee.
Linklaters created the global COO/CIO role in 2018 as part of Peers’ drive to build out the IT function. In the same year as he was promoted, he hired Bruna Pellicci from Ashurst as his chief technology officer. His departure means that Pellicci is currently the most senior member of the IT team. It is unclear at the time of writing what firm’s plan for the CIO role is.
Commenting on the news, a spokesperson for Linklaters said:
“Following considerable evaluation, we decided to reorganise and streamline our Business Teams leadership to simplify our structure. As a result, we no longer have a global COO role and our former global COO, Matt Peers, left the firm at the end of January 2023. We are grateful for the valuable contribution Matt made to the firm in his role as Director of Technology and as global COO.”
While the restructure comes at a time when firms are beginning to eliminate business roles to cut costs, a source indicated that the two are not connected.