DLA Piper has appointed corporate partner Anastasia Kelly and litigator Michael Paulos as its new US co-managing partners, with the former becoming the first woman to lead the American business.

The duo will begin their roles on 1 January next year, at the same time as Roger Meltzer, chair of the corporate and finance practice, and Cameron Rains, co-chair of the global corporate practice, are due to take up their places as new co-chairs of the DLA's US arm for a four-year term.

Kelly joined DLA in 2010 in a high-profile move from insurance giant AIG and she now sits on a number of committees, including the firm's Law Alliance for Women committee, which is aimed at increasing the number of female lawyers within the firm.

She held the top legal role at AIG as vice-chairman in charge of legal, compliance, regulatory, HR, communications, government relations and public relations, and is also a former GC at MCI/WorldCom.

Paulos is currently co-managing partner of the firm's Chicago office, regional chair of its US litigation practice and a member of its US executive committee.

O'Malley said of the appointments: "Stasia and Mike are excellent lawyers, problem solvers, client relationship managers and business developers. Their prospective appointment is the next step in our leadership transition process, which will formally take effect in January."

Kelly and Paulos will replace Terry O'Malley, who served as managing partner until January 2012 before taking up a one-year additional role role as US co-chair. O'Malley will subsequently serve as co-chairs emeriti for two years from January, alongside global co-chair Frank Burch and joint chief executive Lee Miller.

Burch shares his role as global co-chair with Tony Angel, senior partner of the firm's non-US business. The duo are thought to be working on ways in which to make the two businesses more closely aligned.