Clifford Chance (CC) has appointed a new Amsterdam managing partner, with finance specialist Bas Boris Visser taking over the role today (16 October).

The election of Visser was unanimous and will see him take on the role for a four-year term. He succeeds current Amsterdam head Jan ter Haar, who was last month appointed as CC's next Moscow managing partner, after the announcement that Russia and CIS managing partner Michael Cuthbert is to retire.

Visser, began his career at CC in 2001 and made partner in 2003, will continue to practise as a partner in the Amsterdam finance and capital markets department in addition to the office head role. He is part of the financial institutions group and his practice focus includes restructurings, acquisition finance and secured lending.

He commented: "CC is one of the leading international law firms with an unrivalled network and client base. It is a fantastic challenge to manage the Amsterdam office for the next four years while continuing to grow my finance practice."

Ter Haar had been appointed for a second term as Amsterdam managing partner only last year but will cut this short to take on the Moscow management role. The brief will include overseeing a smaller region than that which Cuthbert has been responsible for, including only Moscow and Kiev.

CC is set to overhaul its management structure in the region, with Moscow and Kiev coming under one remit and Bucharest, Prague and Warsaw under another, with the firm stating that regional developments have led to closer Western synergies for the latter group of offices.