King & Wood Mallesons has appointed global practice co-ordinators and a new management committee following the merger of the Sino-Australian giant and UK firm SJ Berwin, which goes live today. 

The appointments include three partners from each legacy firm will head up nine newly-identified key practice areas.

From the SJ Berwin side, these include Jonathan Blake, who will lead the global funds team, Simon Holmes, who will head the antitrust and regulatory department, and Bryan Pickup, who will lead the real estate group.

All the partners are London-based. Blake is the former senior partner of SJ Berwin and the founder of its private equity and private funds practices, whilst Holmes is currently the head of EU, competition and regulatory at the UK firm.

Those appointed from legacy Mallesons meanwhile include three Sydney partners: Yuen-Yee Cho, who will run banking and finance, Justin Cherrington, who will oversee tax and Beau Deleuil who will manage dispute resolution and litigation. 

Cherrington is currently head of the Australian tax team at King & Wood Mallesons, whilst Deleuil is the firm's managing partner for disputes and the former partner in charge of its Perth office.

Legacy King & Wood partners who are taking practice roles will cover the areas of intellectual property, projects, and corporate, M&A and securities.

They include international managing partner and former Clifford Chance partner Rupert Li on corporate, energy partner Handel Lee – a member of KWM's committee – on projects, and partner Nongfan Zhu on IP.
All three partners are based in Beijing.

The two firms have also appointed an international management committee, which includes representatives each from the UK, China and Australia.

Those appointed from the UK are the firm's managing partner Rob Day, senior partner Stephen Kon, who also chairs the firm's international partnership board, M&A partner Maxence Bloch, a member of the global partnership board and Stefan Kruger, a partner in the IP and commercial group and head of the IP practice in Germany.

In Australia representatives are global managing partner Stuart Fuller (pictured), country managing partner Sue Kench, Australia chair Stephen Minns and top-ranked corporate partner David Friedlander.

In China, those taking on the roles are Wang Junfeng, principal founding partner of King & Wood and chair of the firm's management committee, Wang Ling, managing partner of King & Wood and current head of the finance practice, Zhang Yi, managing partner of King & Wood's Shanghai office and Wang Rongkang, a partner in the China M&A practice.

The firm's executive committee, which will make recommendations to the international committee, is led by Fuller and includes Kench, Ling, Day and Li.

SJ Berwin kicked of talks with the Sino-Australian firm in 2012, with the UK firm targeting a greater Asian presence beyond its existing offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

The decision to tie up, which was announced in July, has seen the two firms create a $1bn (£657m) global outfit under a Swiss Verein structure, which includes four financially independent partnerships in the UK, China, Hong Kong and Australia.

It is the first major merger between a UK and an pan-Asia-Pacific firm, combining KWM's 21 Asia-Pacific offices with SJ Berwin's UK, European and Middle East practice, putting it among the top 25 largest in the world.

The combined entity will operate under the KWM banner, with the firm initially practising under the name King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin for a transitional period across the UK, continental Europe and the Middle East.