Duncan has 25 years of experience in managing professional service firms and he is currently the Executive Partner of CMS. CMS is one of the top 10 global elite firms providing law and tax services worldwide. Duncan and his executive team are responsible for steering the firms’ global strategy and its business development.

Formerly the Managing Partner of CMS in London he was responsible for seeing the UK firm through the global financial crisis and was the architect of a number of mergers including the largest 3 way UK merger with the firms of Olswang and Nabarro. During his eight years as Managing Partner, the profits of the firm increased considerably and the business grew substantially.

The firm under his leadership opened offices in Brazil, Russia, China, Turkiye and the Middle East. It was also a period of change and innovation introducing new processes and technologies to the business including the ground-breaking outsourcing to Integreon and relocating the firm to a new cutting edge office in London. Duncan was also a founding partner of the CMS Academy, in partnership with IMD business School, which has pioneered training, learning and development across CMS.

Prior to becoming managing partner, Duncan was a leading private equity lawyer bringing his characteristic dynamic and innovative approach to the deals. He was also head of the European Private Equity Group specialising in cross-border investment in Central and Eastern Europe. In 2006, he was named by Private Equity International as one of the 30 most influential private equity lawyers in the world. He moved to Prague and later to Geneva, and managed and led the large scale expansion of the firm’s Central and Eastern European Practise bringing together some 400 lawyers across eight jurisdictions in 12 regional practise and sector groups.

More recently in 2021 he received an Executive PhD in digital business model innovation for professional service firms at the Dauphine University in Paris which was the inspiration for Lupl. Duncan co- founded Lupl in 2019 as the first open industry platform in legal matter synchronisation for legal departments and law firms globally.

Board positions include CMS London Management Board, CMS Global Executive Committee, English National Ballet Board of Directors and Lupl Global Board of Directors. Duncan was appointed an Executive Fellow of IMD Business School in 2021.