Kemp Little has appointed a chief operating officer (COO) for the first time following the firm's decision to abandon its managing partner role earlier this year.

Boodle Hatfield director of operations and IT Siddhartha Mankad has taken up the new position as of 1 August. At Boodle, he was responsible for technology, risk management, compliance and office services.

He has also become a fixed-share partner at Kemp Little and a member of the firm's management board.

The news follows the departure of former managing partner Lucy Vernall in April this year to take up a role as GC for online loan company Wonga.com.

Kemp Little executive partner Paul Garland said: "Siddhartha has the right mix of skills at the right level of seniority and we are delighted he's joining us as our first COO.

"We are experiencing growth in all our practice areas at the moment, and it's great that we and our lawyers, and by extension our clients, will be getting the benefit of the law firm expertise he has built up over many years."

Garland, who also heads up the firm's litigation practice, was appointed to the first-time role of executive partner in the spring following Vernall's exit.

The news comes after the firm launched a tax practice earlier this year with the hire of Mayer Brown tax partner Michael Cashman in January.