Herbert Smith is set to lose its Paris banking head as Georges Dirani leaves to become global general counsel at BNP Paribas.

Dirani, the founding partner of Herbert Smith's Paris banking practice, has won the prestigious position after having acted as the City law firm's BNP relationship partner.

The French-based financial institution, Europe's third-largest bank, is a key client of Herbert Smith's Paris office, with the firm also extending the relationship to its global practice in recent years.

During an initial transitional period, Dirani will work alongside BNP's current legal head Jean-Louis Guillot, before officially taking over on 1 October 2010. Guillot will remain with the bank as an adviser to the firm's executive management.

Dirani has played a central role in establishing Herbert Smith's global banking practice and has also been a member of the firm's worldwide governance board for the last two years. He also headed the Paris office between 2002 and 2004, before the running of the office was handed over to a management committee.

He joined the firm in 2000 in a lateral move from Linklaters, prior to which he was director of legal affairs at Deutsche Bank in Paris.

Earlier in his career he spent five years in-house at BNP after beginning his legal career there in 1987.

Herbert Smith senior partner David Gold commented: "We are very grateful to Georges for the major contribution he has made to the development of the Paris office and in particular to the market standing that our banking and finance practice now enjoys."

"We congratulate Georges on this prestigious appointment, wish him every success in his new role and look forward to maintaining our links with him when he joins BNP Paribas."

Herbert Smith has yet to appoint a successor as Paris banking head but has named Paris-based Regis Oreal and Jacques Bertran de Balanda as the firm's BNP relationship partners.

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