Insurance specialist BLM has appointed Gary Allison as its new managing partner.

His term will begin on 1 December and run for three years. He replaces Andrew Relton whose term as managing partner ended recently.

Allison sits on BLM’s executive board and has led the firm’s London healthcare department since 1997. He was also recently appointed as head of the firm’s healthcare and commercial business stream.

Senior partner Mike Brown said: “I’m confident that he will support BLM through a period of development as we implement our business improvement programme. Gary as a wealth of knowledge about our business and has all the experience and credentials to make a real difference in the months and years ahead.”

As managing partner Allison will oversee the implementation of BLM’s strategy and business improvement programme, which will see it cut 21 jobs in Leeds as part of plans to move into a smaller office. Following the redundancy consultation the office headcount will be reduced from 40 to 19.