LOD has appointed former Olswang strategic development head Nigel Rea (pictured) to lead a push into managed services.

Rea, who joins from LexisNexis, will lead LOD's managed solutions arm, which has been identified as an area of major growth for the flexible lawyering business.

Prior to joining LexisNexis in 2015, Rea spent six years with Olswang, joining as an executive officer before being made head of strategic development in 2014. Rea trained in business development at Allen & Overy.

Commenting on the appointment, LOD co-founder Simon Harper said: "LOD has been providing more and more clients with managed solutions – teams of lawyers augmented by technology, data and project management.

"Managed solutions are becoming a bigger and bigger part of what we do and what our clients expect. Nigel will be leading this part of the LOD business, making good use of his background in consultancy, legal technology and designing solutions for legal teams."

Rea added: "The legal marketplace is evolving at speed and LOD are at the vanguard of customer driven innovation."

In May, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) sold its entire stake in LOD to private equity firm Bowmark Capital. The deal saw BCLP relinquish its 62.36% shareholding in the legacy BLP spinoff, with Bowmark becoming the majority owner.

At the time, LOD CEO Tom Hartley told Legal Week: "Bowmark has a track record of having taken businesses onto the next step, while the next stage of the growth is something that BCLP has not done before."