Baker McKenzie has refreshed its London management committee with the appointment of three City partners to the line-up.

Competition partner Samantha Mobley, private equity partner Karen Guch and dispute resolution partner Ed Poulton have been appointed to the nine-person committee, which is chaired by London managing partner Alex Chadwick (pictured).

The trio succeed employment partner Monica Kurnatowksa, corporate partner Helen Bradley and trusts disputes partner Anthony Poulton. The new committee members will serve a two-year term, starting yesterday (1 August).

At the same time, London partners Ben Allgrove and Jonathan Peddie have been appointed chairs of the firm's global IP, technology and communications practice and global financial institutions, respectively. Allgrove, who succeeds former co-chairs John Flaim and Anne-Marie Allgrove, will also concurrently continue in his role as head of the firm's global research and development team.

Peddie, who joined Bakers in 2015 from Barclays where he was global head of financial crime legal, succeeds Tokyo managing partner Jeremy Pitts. Pitts will continue in that leadership role and continue fee earning, while Peddie will also continue to lead the London financial services practice together with partner Mark Simpson.

Bakers' London office has made a number of hires in recent months, after Chadwick expressed an aim to grow the base's transactional capabilities.

So far in 2018, key lateral hires for the firm have included Ropes & Gray finance partner Matthew Cox, Linklaters counsel Megan Schellinger, who joined as a partner in the capital markets practice, and White & Case partner Michael Doran in its structured capital markets team.

Bakers has also recently moved towards greater financial integration across its EMEA region, with 1,000 lawyers across London, Brussels, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Madrid, Johannesburg, Bahrain and Qatar operating under a single profit pool from last month.

The new structure is led by Brussels-based global antitrust head Fiona Carlin, who took up the role on 1 July when the integration went live.