Hogan Lovells has appointed London corporate partner Ben Higson to a new '45 and Under' board role, as part of a number of changes to the firm's most senior global leadership team.

Higson, who focuses on energy, natural resources, and infrastructure work, will represent the views of equity partners at Hogan Lovells who are under 45 years old.

Elsewhere, Bill Curtin was re-appointed to his role as board member responsible for the Americas, while Hamburg and Frankfurt partner Leopold von Gerlach has been elected as the firm's representative for Continental Europe, taking over from Madrid corporate partner Jose Maria Balana.

All new appointments come into effect from 1 May 2014.

"The board plays an important role in the governance of Hogan Lovells in its relationship with our management team and in listening to, and representing, the views of partners," said London-based board chair Nicholas Cheffings.

"The high level of participation in this election process is testament to that. As we move from co-CEOs to a single global CEO, we have kept the total number of board members at 12 with the introduction of a new board role for an equity partner age 45 and under.

"This is a post designed to ensure that we have broad representation from across the partnership."

In December, the firm announced Warren Gorrell and David Harris would step down as co-CEOs in July, to be replaced by sole chief executive Steve Immelt.

From the summer, Gorrell is set to return to client work, while Harris will retire from the firm. The pair was appointed as co-CEOs following the merger of legacy firms Hogan Hartson and Lovells.

At the time Harris was halfway through his second term as managing partner of the firm and although he agreed to take on the co-CEO role, indicated at the time that he did not want to serve another term.

Gorrell meanwhile was previously chairman of legacy Hogan from 2001 until the merger in 2010.

In his new role, Immelt will work alongside Cheffings and finance practice head and deputy CEO David Hudd.

Board in full from 1 May, 2014:
Chair: Nicholas Cheffings
Co-CEOs: Warren Gorrell and David Harris (From 1 July 2014: CEO: Steve Immelt)
Asia/Middle East: Jun Wei
Continental Europe: Leopold von Gerlach
Washington DC area: Helen Trilling
London: Emily Reid
Americas: Bill Curtin
Americas (Except DC): Cole Finegan
45 and Under: Ben Higson
'At large' representatives: Daniel Gonzalez, Craig Hoover, and Michael Silver