Christian Bartsch

Bird & Bird

Christian Bartsch has big boots to fill. Bird & Bird’s CEO-elect will take over the running of the international intellectual property and information technology giant later this year from the man who has run it since 1996, David Kerr. Handily, Bartsch already has significant top-level management experience under his belt, having been a key part of Bird & Bird’s board for six years.

Consequently, this self-effacing lawyer with a broad contentious and non-contentious practice is already well known, both within and outside Bird & Bird. It also means that Bartsch has as good an understanding as anyone of what makes the expansionist firm tick.

Protecting that culture will be his number-one priority as he looks to build on the Kerr-patented strategy of making Bird & Bird the world’s number-one firm for advising organisations that are being changed – and challenged – by tech. Bartsch, a big fan of local entrepreneurism coupled with a global infrastructure and approach, is now the man to take Bird & Bird to the next stage.