Linklaters has named Frankfurt-based regulatory lawyer Andreas Steck as its new regional managing partner for the whole of Europe.

The appointment marks the first time Linklaters has combined its Western and Eastern European offices under one unit. Steck will be supported by deputy regional managing partner Nuno Lousa, who was previously managing partner of the firm’s Western Europe region.

Paul Lewis, Linklaters’ firmwide managing partner, said: “Our ‘One Europe’ approach reflects the reality of our clients’ business across Europe and our new structure will encourage even greater cross-jurisdictional collaboration to ensure clients receive the very best one-stop service from the firm.”

Steck has been at Linklaters since 2004, being promoted to German senior partner in 2016. Up to this point the German office was managed separately, with the firm’s Eastern European offices in Warsaw and Moscow also falling under the German senior partner’s remit.

This arrangement was a legacy of Linklaters’ merger with Oppenhoff & Raedler, one of Germany’s largest law firms, back in 2000.

He will remain senior German partner in tandem with his new role until the end of next year, when a new senior German partner will be elected. Lousa has been at the firm since 2002 when he joined as an associate. In addition to his deputy managing partner role for Europe, he is head of disputes in Lisbon.

The new regional set up is the latest leadership shake up this year at the UK Magic Circle firm. In July, capital markets lawyer Lewis was appointed firmwide managing partner after Gideon Moore decided to step down more than a year earlier than planned. That followed the election of the firm’s former global corporate head Aedamar Comiskey in May as Linklaters’ first female senior partner in its almost 200-year history. She replaced Charlie Jacobs, who left the partnership to become co-head of UK investment banking at JPMorgan.

In April, the firm named competition lawyer Thomas McGrath as its US practice head following the departure of previous US head Tom Shropshire, who announced his exit from the firm in February to join global drinks giant Diageo as general counsel. He had been considered to be in the running to replace Jacobs as senior partner.