Clifford Chance (CC) has appointed a new London head of tax, pensions and employment.

Chris Davies will take over London management responsibilities from global practice group head David Harkness, who was first appointed to lead the group on a global basis in 2006 before taking on both London and global responsibilites in 2009.

Harkness will continue as global head of the group, with Davies appointed for a four-year term.

Tax, pensions and employment is one of the firm's main six practice groups. Davies, whose practice focuses on corporate and financial tax, has been a partner at CC since 1999, having joined the firm in 1989.

Davies commented: "Tax, pensions and employment are all areas where our clients are facing unprecedented challenges. I look forward to working with partners and lawyers in London to help our clients meet these challenges, and to strengthen further our position as the adviser of choice."

Following an update to CC's governance structure last year, the firm conducted a review of practice group structures in an effort to help free up partners to do more fee-earning, which in some cases meant splitting the management responsibility between more than one partner.

This included appointing Michael Bates and Robert Lee as co-heads of London finance when Mark Stewart retired last year, with finance one of the largest teams in the firm.

Other recent London appointments saw Simon Tinkler elected as head of the City corporate team in July 2010, replacing David Pearson. The firm also elected Jonathan Solomon as its new London real estate head in June, succeeding Cliff McAuley.

Other more recent elections at CC saw the firm re-elect its global heads of finance and capital markets in January, with Mark Campbell and David Dunnigan both set to serve a second term in their respective roles.