Shearman & Sterling has continued the overhaul of its senior management with the creation of a new firm-wide general counsel role and the appointment of a new managing partner for its Asia practice.

KPMG International general counsel John Shutkin joins the New York firm with a brief to handle all the firm's contentious in-house matters, such as conflicts, data privacy compliance, ethics training and contract negotiations.

Shutkin, who is not joining as a partner, takes up the post in September and told Legal Week that US firms are following the trend of hiring general counsel as a way of allowing a dedicated lawyer to deal with compliance and risk issues.

Separately, the top 10 US firm has handed the remit for over-seeing its Asia network to Hong Kong-based Matthew Bersani, effective from 1 July.

Bersani, who is also co-head of capital markets for Europe and Asia, is New York-qualified and has acted for clients including Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Hutchinson Whampoa and the Hong Kong Government.

He takes over the role from New York partner Whitney Pidot, who retired at the end of June. The appointment comes at a time when Shearman is looking to expand its Asian practice; specifically, it intends to open a second office on mainland China in Shanghai.