Baker McKenzie today announced the appointment of David Cambria as the Firm’s first Global Director of Legal Operations. Cambria will be responsible for ensuring that the strategies for pricing, legal project management, and other commercial activities are closely matched to increasingly sophisticated client needs and expectations. He brings a unique “voice of the client” to the leadership of Baker McKenzie and will work directly with major clients to both help shape delivery of the Firm’s services and to assist clients in addressing the development of their own operations.
With a deep focus on rethinking legal processes to make them more productive and cost-efficient, David will help align the legal and business services of the Firm with the organization of its clients. He will initially focus on expanding the Firm’s already sizable legal project management team, implementing advanced pricing capabilities, and participating actively in firm-wide initiatives to develop new and rethink some of the firm’s core service lines.
David joins from Archer Daniels Midland Company, a Fortune 50 company and one of the world’s largest agricultural processors and ingredient providers, with 31,000 employees serving customers in 170 countries. There, he held the position of Global Director of Operations – Law, Compliance and Government Relations for almost 5 years. David has held several senior leadership positions at some of the world’s most global companies including CDW, Aon, Huron and Thomson Reuters. He studied Law at the University of Dayton in Ohio in the US. His LinkedIn profile and bio may be found here.
David said, “Many people talk about legal operations as a role within a company rather than a set of disciplines that drive better coordination, better outcomes and greater value. I am thrilled to be joining a global firm that understands that it must evolve the way it delivers legal services if it is going to provide the value clients are demanding.”
David will report to Ilnort Rueda, Baker McKenzie’s new Chief Services Officer, who commented: “Being a good lawyer is no longer enough – in order to truly meet and exceed our global clients’ expectations we need to ensure that our services directly meet emerging client needs and provide demonstrable value in solving client challenges. We are delighted with David’s appointment and the wealth of knowledge he brings.”
Paul Rawlinson, Global Chair for Baker McKenzie comments: “David’s appointment is another important step in our strategy to seize this moment of change for our industry. Building on our history of innovation and adaptation, the decision to add a very senior leader from an in-house legal operations role will only help us sharpen our focus on helping our clients navigate complexity and create value.”
