Norton Rose Fulbright chief executive Peter Martyr has ushered the firm through a dramatic transformation during his 12 years at the top, taking it from an also-ran UK firm to an international powerhouse formed through a rapid series of global tie-ups.

As he prepares to take on another three-year term leading the firm, which takes effect in January, Martyr (pictured) seems as unflappable as ever. His long tenure, he says, has taught him to remain vigilant.

"I have learned there will always be things that take you by surprise," he tells Legal Week. "If you walk in thinking that today will be a quiet day, don't! It's a mistake."

But Martyr should now have more time to concentrate his mind on the international side of the business following the appointment of Martin Scott as managing partner of the UK limited liability partnership (LLP). The appointment, which saw the global corporate chief fend off competition from five candidates – deputy managing partner Tim Marsden, global head of banking Jeremy Edwards, EMEA head of litigation Deirdre Walker, corporate partner Raj Karia and litigation partner Susan Dingwall – ends Martyr's dual leadership role.

Now, with the UK business in safe hands, the US will increasingly become a priority for Martyr. When its combination (the firm now maintains the deal was not a merger) with Houston-based Fulbright & Jaworski went live last June, it handed Norton Rose its longed-for presence in the States, although its New York offering was not as substantial as the firm might have hoped for. Martyr now plans to turn the New York office into a serious contender in two years, with its financial services groups in particular set for growth.

And it's not only in the financial centre of New York that Norton Rose see opportunities in the US. With the legal profession facing continuing pressure to provide cost-efficient services, farming out work to lower-cost jurisdictions in the states is also a possibility. Martyr says that the firm has been reviewing how to balance IT development with the cost of offshoring options for the past two years, but continues to be "wary" of investing in such centres given the rapid pace of change in technology more generally.

Scott adds that while the "trend for City firms is to set up near-shoring ventures in the likes of Bristol or Belfast", there are several jurisdictions in the US that might potentially offer a "more effective" solution. Martyr cites Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and St Louis as jurisdictions that may appear as a less obvious choice for such ventures.

"We are not ruling out the notion of a low cost centre in the UK but will continue to investigate global offerings," says Scott.

For now, the firm has been leaning on its South Africa operations for lower cost work, as well as conducting some due diligence and document management functions in the US and Australia.

"We're trying not to do it in too overstated a way – rather, we're doing it in pockets," says Martyr. "We're looking particularly at investing in our operating systems, which could take a long time to change and modernise on a global scale, and working out the appropriate pace of investment on this."

He says that the firm is "aiming to put a universal system in place in three to five years", adding that it is "about efficiency, not cost reduction to the bottom level".

On his own new role, Scott says: "I am not expecting to introduce sudden changes in the next few months. We are clear about how we fit into the global business but there is a lot to do here in the UK and the rest of EMEA to drive the business forward."

For Martyr, having already achieved the status of having, in his words, "one of the best energy practices", he now has his eyes fixed on healthcare sector. "The intention is to also provide a leading healthcare service," he explains. "We saw that healthcare would be an up-and-coming practice a couple of years ago and now it's going global."

Norton Rose might have a familiar leader, but both geographically and in terms of sectors, it is looking at new horizons.

Related: Last ones standing – Norton Rose Fulbright's Martyr on the rise of the 'truly global firm'