King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) has elected Hong Kong co-chief executive Zhang Yi as its new China chairman.

He succeeds global chair Wang Junfeng, who will continue his global leadership role and become an honorary chairman of the firm's China partnership.

Zhang has co-led KWM's Hong Kong office alongside corporate partner Hayden Flinn since January 2015. In his new role, he will also work alongside China managing partner Wang Ling.

The appointment of Zhang, who is in his early 40s, is notable as he is relatively young to have taken up such a senior leadership role at an elite Chinese law firm.

KWM said that "by selecting robust and outstanding young partners for the firm's management", it would be able to "respond to market changes innovatively and boost the steady, long-term and sustainable development of the firm".

Zhang joined legacy King & Wood in 1996, one year after graduating from the University of International Business and Economics School of Law, one of China's top law schools. He made partner in 1999, and three years later was appointed managing partner of the firm's Shanghai office. At the time, in his early thirties, Zhang also became one of the youngest members of the management committee.

Since 2010, he has split his time between Shanghai and Hong Kong and become more involved in the firm's global plans. He was a core member of the China team that led negotiations over the 2012 Sino-Australian merger of King & Wood and Mallesons Stephens Jaques, and also played a key role in putting together the firm's ill-fated 2013 merger with SJ Berwin.

As China chairman, Zhang will be involved in leading KWM China's integration with the global firm. The external-facing role complements Wang Ling's internal-facing responsibilities as China managing partner, which include managing the firm's China partnership.

The appointment follows KWM China's announcement that it is taking total control of the 33-partner Europe and Middle East team kept on by the firm after last month's collapse of the legacy SJ Berwin business, which filed for administration on 17 January.

Zhang was elected at the annual partners meeting for KWM's China arm, held in Beijing earlier this month. More than 360 partners from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Europe and the Middle East, the US – as well as managing partners from the Australia partnership – attended the two-day conference.

The news also comes after KWM global managing partner Stuart Fuller stepped down at the end of last year, with his successor yet to be appointed.