Nike has appointed a new European general counsel, with senior director of global brand protection Bill Berner stepping into the role.

Berner is succeeding Fabrizio Mecozzi, who is taking up a new US-based role at the sports clothing company.

Mecozzi, who joined Nike in 2000, has been European GC since 2012, based in the Netherlands at Nike's European headquarters. He is relocating to the US for his new role, the details of which are as yet unclear.

Berner was previously a partner at US law firm Weston Benshoof Rochefort Rubalcava & Maccuish, which is now part of Alston & Bird. In 2002 he joined Nike as a managing attorney focusing on intellectual property, a role he held for six years.

He subsequently took up the general counsel role at shoe company Converse – which is owned by Nike – before re-joining Nike in 2012 as senior director of global brand protection.

During Mecozzi's time as European GC, he took a lead role on Nike's development of a 'legal alliance' of firms for external advice, as opposed to the use of a traditional panel.

The alliance, which is coordinated by Dutch firm Kennedy Van der Laan, is a collection of 31 law firms spanning 22 jurisdictions, including the UK's Charles Russell Speechlys, Spain's Gomez-Acebo & Pombo, French firm August & Debouzy and Taylor Wessing's German arm.

Other firms to have worked with Nike in recent years include Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, which advised on the £140m sale of sports brand Umbro in 2014, and Baker McKenzie, which acted on the original purchase of Umbro for £285m in 2007.