David Crookston, who has more than 20 years' experience in financial services - including the past eight years as chief operating officer (COO) for JPMorgan's European equities division - has been named DLA Piper's COO for Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The new position was created in 2006 for Crookston, who is expected to coordinate DLA Piper's services from June 2007.
At JPMorgan, Crookston directed the support functions aligned to European equities and also managed the firm's business strategy. More recently, he led the investment bank's initiative to unbundle the services it provides equity clients, in line with the UK Financial Services Authority's new requirements.