Longstanding Bird & Bird CEO David Kerr has taken up the reins for another term at the firm, which will take his period at the top to a mammoth 26 years. 

Kerr stood unopposed for the role, which will see him serve another three years. His current tenure ends on 31 March.

Kerr is one of the UK's longest-standing law firm leaders, having been CEO of Bird & Bird since 1996.

Bird & Bird chairman Massimiliano Mostardini will not be facing re-election this month, after it was revealed his term had been granted a one-off, one-year extension to force the elections of CEO and chairman out of sync.

The extension was voted through as part of an "extensive governance review" in 2017, which included halving the size of its board and creating a new executive committee.

Kerr said in a statement: "Bird & Bird is a tremendous firm full of fantastic people, and I'm honoured and grateful that the partnership has placed its trust in me for the next three years."

He added: "I work alongside a strong leadership team heading up our sector groups, practice groups and offices across the globe. I'm excited to work with this leadership team over the next three years to maintain our position as the number one law firm in the world advising organisations being changed by the digital world or themselves driving that change."