Ashurst has appointed Australia-based banking and finance partner Paul Jenkins as its global managing partner.

Jenkins replaces James Collis, who announced in January this year that he would be stepping down from the role after one term to return to the firm's finance practice.

Jenkins is currently co-head of Ashurst's global finance division and a member of the executive committee. He joined Ashurst in 1996 and made partner in Sydney in 2006.

Unlike Ashurst's chairman the managing partner is appointed by the firm's board without an election.

Ashurst chairman Ben Tidswell told Legal Week: "We [the board] felt that Paul's success in running the firm's finance business could be translated into how the wider business is run.

"The challenge is that you have to have structures to make the process work, but you don't want to become encumbered by them. He ran the finance division very simply and effectively."

Jenkins has led the finance division at the international firm since 2013. During his career he has practiced in London and Tokyo. He is qualified in New South Wales and England and Wales.

He will split his time between the firm's Sydney and London offices alongside other travelling commitments associated with the role. Ashurst's board, which Jenkins will sit on, meets monthly in various locations.

He said: "I want to empower the partners by simplifying the processes of doing business to support them in generating revenue and winning market share. Even focusing on streamlining internal structures and communications will help them find ways to continue succeeding and encourage the entrepreneurial spirit for which our firm is renowned."

The firm had seriously considered appointing an external candidate after the board created respective shortlists for external and internal candidates.

Tidswell said: "It was a genuinely interesting experience. We had discussions with a variety of external candidates, not all of them lawyers. It allowed us to consider how the firm is run and at the end of the day, allowed us to be very confident that Paul was the right person to take the business forward."

Yesterday (20 April) Ashurst saw the latest in a string of partners that have left the firm to join Gibson Dunn's City office.

Financial regulatory partner James Perry is the latest in a string of Ashurst partners to join the US firm, including former senior partner Charlie Geffen.

Geffen joined Gibson Dunn in 2014 taking with him corporate partner Mark Sperotto.

Geffen left for Gibson Dunn a year after losing out to Ben Tidswell in the partner vote for Ashurst's chairman position.

The moves followed those of former Ashurst partners Jonathan Earle and Nigel Stacey who jumped to Gibson Dunn in the summer of 2014.

Earlier this week (19 April) Ashurst hired a duo of real estate partners from King and Wood Mallesons.