Addleshaw Goddard has hired Olswang’s general counsel (GC) and partnership secretary Simon Callander as it expands its partnership secretary role, left vacant by Peter Smith last year, to include GC responsibilities.
Callander, who had worked at Olswang from November 2011, is the latest management exit from the firm after global director of human resources Ffion Griffith, who also sat on the firm’s executive committee, left in March. He specialises in areas including major commercial contract negotiation, litigation and risk management, and operational leadership and management.
Legal Business understands that Callander accepted an offer from Addleshaws in March and is currently working out his notice period before joining the firm in September. The general counsel portion of the role is new for the firm and was added, according to a spokesperson, because ‘there is a sense that the firm would benefit from somebody taking on that role and responsibility. It covers a wide range of areas including risk.’
The partnership secretary role at Addleshaws has been vacant for just over a year since Peter Smith retired last May. Smith, who served in the role for almost five years, was previously the global COO of Baker & McKenzie and was based in Chicago. He was also chief executive of the now defunct Norton Rose M5 Group from 1990 – 1998.
The move follows news earlier this month that Olswang had elected intellectual property partner Paul Stevens as chief executive, taking over from Michael Burdon who carried out the role on an interim basis following former chief executive David Stewart’s resignation in October last year. Stewart’s exit came after differences emerged with other management figures over the firm’s strategy, expansion plans and spending.
kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk