Burness Paull has appointed Noel Jordan as its first chief operating officer, as the firm primes itself for its next phase of growth.

In the newly created role, Noel will have overall responsibility for the firm’s business services and legal operations functions, working closely with its practice areas to ensure a cohesive approach to providing excellent client service.

Noel brings considerable business acumen and technical expertise honed over a 20-year career in the professional services, financial, and utilities sectors, during which he led large, multi-office teams operating on a global basis to deliver technological transformation projects

He was formerly chief technology officer at Ashurst and prior to that held senior IT roles with commercial and consumer lender GE Capital, including chief information officer for GE UK’s financial services business and latterly group IT director.

Peter Lawson, chair at Burness Paull, said: “Our business services and legal operations teams are vital parts of the firm that make a huge contribution, across a whole range of areas, in support of our lawyers and to the quality of our client offering.

“As we enter this next phase of our growth, building on the strong market position we have secured, we felt now was the right time to appoint a chief operating officer to help shape our strategy and assume overall responsibility for our business services and legal operations functions.

“Noel’s experience of working with a leading international law firm and his blue-chip corporate background make him perfectly placed to take on this role. We look forward to benefitting from his significant expertise as we further develop our infrastructure and processes in support of our ambitious growth plans and leverage technology to deliver ever more efficient and client-centric solutions.”