Mourant announces high profile appointment as law firm CEO

05.06.2006

Mourant announces that it has appointed Stephen Ball to the post of Chief Executive Officer of its law firm division, Mourant du Feu & Jeune. Mr Ball will take over from offshore leading light Tim Herbert, whose term of office is due to expire.

Stephen Ball is currently Managing Director and International General Counsel at Kroll, the international risk management advisory company.Educated at Cambridge and London Universities and a solicitor qualified in both England and Hong Kong, he has twenty years of global transactional and risk management experience. He practised law in the UK and United States with Slaughter and May and Linklaters, before moving into the investment banking industry in Asia-Pacific and Europe, notably with Bankers Trust and Nomura. At Nomura he held the post of Chief General Counsel.

Nicola Davies, Chief Executive of Mourant, commented:

"Stephen’s appointment is a logical step for Mourant’s law firm. External appointments to top level positions are rare in the offshore legal profession, but Mourant is a progressive international practice with a global client base and Stephen’s impressive track record in management and legal practice, and the valuable client perspective he offers as high level general counsel, made him the obvious choice for us."

In his new role, which he will take up this summer, Mr Ball will be responsible for the strategy and operational management of Mourant du Feu & Jeune. It is one of the largest offshore law firms, with offices in Cayman, Guernsey, Jersey and London and group offices in Dubai, Luxembourg, New York and Seattle. It has been named by The Lawyer as Offshore Law Firm of the Year in both 2004 and 2005.

Mr Ball will also join the main management board of the 900-employee Mourant organisation which offers a range of services to the international financial markets. Mourant counted 77 of the FTSE100 companies amongst its clients in 2005.

Stephen Ball said:

"It’s a great honour and privilege to be chosen as CEO of Mourant’s law firm. It’s a firm with a blue chip reputation, and a client base of matching quality, and I’m really looking forward to working with a first class team to achieve its bold plans for international growth."