Baker McKenzie strengthens business team

Baker McKenzie strengthens business team

A new arrival at Baker McKenzie will help grow the global law firm’s new services, business models and revenue sources.

Ilnort Rueda has joined the firm as chief services officer from management consultancy AT Kearney. He was previously an investment advisor with UBS.

Rueda will be based mainly in New York and within his role he will oversee the firm’s global practice group strategies and services; and co-lead on Baker McKenzie’s Innovation Initiative.

"As a firm Baker McKenzie is a leader in the legal sector in innovation, project management, pricing, and our approach to new services which we estimate is already creating an annual revenue impact of more than $50m,” said Paul Rawlinson, Global Chair at Baker McKenzie. “This appointment reflects a desire to build on these strengths in a strategic and combined way – to meet and exceed our clients’ changing demands and to capture the opportunities that disruption in the legal industry provides.”

Contentious regulatory expert joins Lathams

Catherine McBride has joined Latham & Watkins in Hong Kong as a contentious regulatory partner.

She will add years of experience to the white-collar defense & investigations practice and the financial institutions group.

Ms. McBride was most recently associate general counsel, head of litigation and regulatory enforcement for North Asia-Pacific at Deutsche Bank based in Hong Kong.

She has also held roles at KPMG and Ernst & Young, and spent more than a decade as a litigation lawyer at a Magic Circle firm.

Mayer Brown JSM hires corporate partner

Mayer Brown JSM in Hong Kong has added partner Brian McKenna to its corporate and securities practice.

McKenna was previously with Debevoise & Plimpton and has wide experience representing clients including private equity sponsors, financial institutions and fund managers on corporate and investment transactions in both New York and Hong Kong.

“His appointment follows a number of important recent partner additions to our team in Asia,” commented senior partner Terence Tung. “These hires demonstrate our long-standing commitment to Hong Kong and the Asia-Pacific region, as well as Mayer Brown's commitment to adding partners with the skill sets and experience that our clients need.”