DLA Piper has appointed Birmingham-based partner Sandra Wallace as UK managing partner.

Wallace has headed the firm's UK employment pensions and benefits group since 2012.

She trained with the firm, qualifying in 1994, making partner in 2001 and being promoted to a management position in 2012.

She will replace former intellectual property head Mark O'Conor in the role on 1 August for a three-year term.

O'Conor will return to fee earning when he steps down in August, focusing on IT and intellectual property matters.

O'Conor spent two years as UK managing partner after replacing Andrew Darwin in 2013. Darwin left the role to become DLA's Australia managing partner.

In late 2014 Amsterdam-based corporate partner Barbara van Hussen was named as joint managing director of Europe and the Middle East following the elevation of former European co-head Simon Levine to the role of joint chief executive.

Levine's promotion came as Sir Nigel Knowles prepared to move from his role as co-chief executive to become chair of the international firm, replacing former Linklaters head Tony Angel. Angel remains at the firm as senior partner.

The firm also added two new members to its EMEA and Asia-Pacific management team, Charles Severs and Jan Geert Meents. Corporate chief Severs was made managing director of practices, while Meents was appointed managing director of clients and services.

UK corporate head Bob Bishop stepped up to replace Severs as head of the international corporate practice and Germany managing partner Meents was jointly replaced by Cologne employment partner Bernd Borgmann and Hamburg corporate partner Benjamin Parameswaran.