Allen & Overy (A&O) has overhauled its litigation practice, with the City giant appointing an overarching steering group for the contentious team and, in a related move, creating a new role of firmwide general counsel.
The magic circle firm has put together a four-partner global steering group to manage its worldwide litigation practice, with former litigation chief Andrew Clark stepping into the newly-created role of A&O general counsel.
Clark will take over responsibility for keeping the firm in line with local regulations, working closely with the firm’s head of risk and compliance, Heather McCallum. He will continue to do some client work.
Tim House, who replaces Clark as head of litigation, will lead the new steering group, which comprises Brussels-based Joost Everaert, US partner Michael Feldberg and Hong Kong-based Angus Ross.
Commenting on the changes, Clark said: “We want to pull in all our thinking from Asia, US and Europe."
In a related move, the firm is transferring City-based arbitration and litigation partner Matt Gearing to Hong Kong to head the Asian arbitration practice. The switch takes place in April and comes as fellow litigation partner Andrew Jeffries is set to return to London after nine years at the UK giant’s Hong Kong office.
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