Charles Adams

Charles Adams is the Global Managing Partner of Clifford Chance, making him the first global managing partner appointed outside the UK in the firm's history. He is dual qualified as an avvocato in Italy and a solicitor in England & Wales, fluent in four languages: English, Italian, Spanish and French. Based in Milan, Adams was widely recognised as one of Italy's leading banking and finance lawyers with a pan-European focus, specialising in leveraged finance, corporate lending, debt restructuring and project/infrastructure finance.

Adams studied law at Oxford University (BA Hons, Jurisprudence) in 1990. He joined Clifford Chance in 1992 and was admitted as a solicitor in England & Wales in 1994, first working in the Rome office before relocating to Milan in 1999. He was promoted to partner in 2000 and admitted as an avvocato in Italy in 2005. He served as Managing Partner of the Italian offices from 2007, later becoming Co-Head of Finance & Capital Markets for Italy in 2018. Prior to his global promotion, Adams was regional managing partner for Continental Europe.

Adams has been featured in Financial News' Fifty Most Influential Lawyers 2022 and ranks #1 in Banking & Finance in Italy (Chambers Global and Europe 2019). During his first term as Global Managing Partner, revenue rose 9% to £2.4bn in the 12 months ending April 30 2025, up from £1.97bn when he took over in 2022. He oversaw a steady inflow of lateral hires, bolstering the firm's private capital and M&A capabilities. In December 2025, he was re-elected for a second four-year term beginning May 1, 2026.

What Charles Adams could bring to his continued leadership of Clifford Chance: Adams' rare combination of deep operational and strategic expertise across major financial markets, his track record growing firm revenue significantly, and his proven ability to attract top-tier talent while maintaining client-centric service positions him to continue scaling Clifford Chance's global platform, particularly in expansion markets like the US and Middle East where he has already driven growth.