King & Wood Mallesons has announced that Sue Kench has been appointed managing partner of the firm’s Australian operations, effective immediately. The position had been vacated last week by Tony O’Malley after only 14 months in the role.
Kench has been with KWM and its predecessor firm for 20 years and was most recently head of the firm’s real estate, construction, environment and infrastructure sector.
Kench said in a statement that she was “deeply honoured” to accept the role. "My immediate priority will be to reach out to the firm's major clients and to our people to listen to them and better understand how we can enrich the client experience moving forward. I will then focus on driving the implementation of the firm’s client promise with speed and intensity to deliver great value,” she said.
In related news, KWM is reported to be building towards a second global merger. According to UK publication The Lawyer, London firm SJ Berwin is set to vote on a global merger with KWM which would see it become the fourth member of the KWM Swiss Verein structure, which would continue to operate under the KWM brand.
The Lawyer also claimed that a planned merger with top Singapore firm WongPartnership was derailed only days before it was due to be officially announced. Resistance from some sections of the WongPartnership group over “aligning financials” was the reason for the cancellation, The Lawyer’s Yun Kriegler reported.
