Offshore law firm, Mourant Ozannes, has appointed Advocate Daniel Birtwistle as the Managing Partner of its Jersey office. His appointment will take effect from 1 February 2012.

Mourant Ozannes advises on the laws of the Cayman Islands, Guernsey and Jersey from offices in each of those jurisdictions as well as Hong Kong and London.

Birtwistle has been at the firm since 1995. He qualified as a Jersey lawyer in 1998 and was admitted as a partner in 2004. He ran the firm's London office between 2006 and 2007 and has been on Mourant Ozannes' management committee since 2008. A member of the Funds practice group, he specialises in private equity and real estate funds, listing some of Europe's leading fund promoters amongst his clients. He will continue to service client work in his new role.

Birtwistle takes over from Jonathan Rigby who is currently the Managing Partner of the Jersey office and the global Managing Partner of Mourant Ozannes. Rigby will focus on his role as the firm's global Managing Partner, developing and implementing the firm's strategy in line with its vision of being consistently recognised as the leading law firm offshore.

Birtwistle says: "Our firm has a truly global reach, but we are proud of our market-leading position in Jersey. I am looking forward to working with Jonathan as we implement our exciting plans for Mourant Ozannes."

Rigby says: "Daniel has made a very significant contribution to the development of the firm in recent years and I know that under his leadership the Jersey office will continue to go from strength to strength."