Baker & McKenzie recently snapped up Brian Henderson, the global head of legal sourcing at Linklaters, as the new chief operating officer for its Asia regional offices.

Effective March 2, the appointment will see Henderson “developing and driving new strategic client initiatives” and “assisting with the overall management” of Bakers’ offices in Hong Kong, China and Vietnam, the U.S. firm said in a statement. Henderson will be based in Hong Kong.

Henderson replaces Nick Peacock, who has been promoted to the position of regional operating officer for Bakers’ North American region.

Henderson was instrumental in Linklaters’ recent paralegal arrangement with global outsourcing firm Integreon. The idea is to supply more paralegals, and also defray costs by moving some of the Magic Circle firm’s document review and due diligence work from its London office to a cheaper cost centre.

Henderson’s joining comes on the heels of other non-legal appointments at Bakers, which includes the recent hire of its London and Chicago-based chief financial officer Ian Dinwiddie. Dinwiddie was formerly with Hildebrandt Consulting before which he was a finance director at Allen & Overy for more than 20 years.

Commenting on Henderson’s law firm management expertise, Poh Lee Tan, the managing partner of Bakers’ Hong Kong, China and Vietnam offices, said: “His broad management experience will enable us to add value and meet the changing needs of our clients, as well as shape our continuing strategy of specialisation across practice areas and industry sectors.” ALB

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