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Linklaters has appointed Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's global head of legal innovation Maziar Jamnejad as innovation manager for the firm in Italy. Jamnejad spent nearly two years leading Freshfields' innovation efforts, after spending four years as an associate and senior associate in the firm's investigations practice in London. Jamnejad will work with closely with Linklaters' global innovation team, including London-based head of innovation Shilpa Bhandarkar.

Linklaters has also appointed a new managing partner for France, with Bertrand Adriani taking over the reigns from Arnaud de La Cotardiere for a four-year term. Adriani has been a partner with Linklaters since 1993, and is head of the banking and projects division in Paris, and co-head of the French Africa desk. He will continue in both of these roles. Cotardiere will stay in the Paris office as a full-time litigation and arbitration partner.

DAC Beachcroft has appointed KPMG's global lead audit partner for the UK and Switzerland, Ian Starkey, as a non-executive director to the firm's 10-member LLP group board. Starkey is a former board member for KPMG Europe, and a non-executive board member for KPMG UK. He replaces Ken Lever, who is retiring.

Womble Bond Dickinson has bolstered its London data protection practice with the hire of partner Mark Gleeson from Browne Jacobson. Gleeson advises private and public sector bodies on information law issues including contentious, regulatory and non-contentious work. He was formerly a partner at Squire Patton Boggs and was head of Barclaycard data protection for a year until 2004.

Baker McKenzie has hired M&A lawyer Peter Lu as a partner and head of the firm's China group in London. Lu was previously counsel at White & Case, where he headed up its China desk in EMEA. His clients include financial institutions and multinationals primarily headquartered in China but with a European presence.

Ashurst has boosted its London project finance ranks with the hire of Simon Moore, who joins from Simmons & Simmons' Bristol office. Prior to joining Simmons in 2016, he worked at global investment company Mubadala, where he was general counsel of real estate and infrastructure and petroleum and major projects.

Pinsent Masons has hired Womble Bond Dickinson's London head and financial regulation partner Andrew Barber to its City practice. Jonathan Blair, Womble Bond Dickinson's UK managing partner and global co-chair, took over as London office head from Barber last September.

Haynes and Boone has added project finance partner Myles Mantle to its London office. Mantle joins from Jones Day and advises clients on the development, financing and acquisition of complex energy, offshore, petrochemical, manufacturing and infrastructure projects.

DLA Piper has bolstered its Amsterdam office with the hire of corporate partner Henk Arnold Sijnja. Sijnja will join DLA in April from Baker McKenzie, where he has been a partner since 2015. He specialises in cross-border public and private M&A, equity capital markets, joint ventures and reorganisations, with a particular focus on the life sciences and financial services sectors. Prior to joining Bakers, Sijnja was a partner at Linklaters.

DLA has also hired a new partner in Manchester. Finance partner Rebecca Williams joins the firm's asset finance practice from Addleshaw Goddard, where she has been a partner since 2012. She advises clients on asset finance matters including finance and operating leases, structured debt arrangements, block discounting and the sale and purchase of equipment lease portfolios.

Simmons & Simmons has added Paul Hastings real estate finance partner James Taylor to its London office. Taylor's expertise includes real estate finance, asset-backed finance, leverage and acquisition finance. Taylor was a partner at Paul Hastings for two years.

DWF has appointed former DLA Piper corporate partner Ulrich Jungst as chairman of DWF Europe. He joins from local German firm JP Rechtsanwalte, which he helped found. During his 11-year career with DLA, he founded the firm's German practice, was managing partner in Germany from 2004 to 2012, and later spent three years as the firm's Europe and Middle East managing director.