Baker & McKenzie Elects Amar Budarapu its Chair of North America Corporate & Securities Practice

© 2013 The Texas Lawbook.By Brooks Igo Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook Baker & McKenzie partner Amar Budarapu is returning to a familiar leadership position within the firm. The recently elected chair of the firm’s North America corporate & securities practice held the same post from 2004-2006. “For more than 50 years, clients have relied on Baker & McKenzie to handle complex, cross-border transactions,” Budarapu said in a statement. “As companies grow domestically and into emerging markets, our North America corporate attorneys are well positioned to advise multinational companies on the range of corporate matters, including M&A, securities, private equity, and corporate governance and compliance issues.” In the U.S. alone, Baker & McKenzie has approximately 150 lawyers in its corporate and securities practice. Globally, the practice consists of more than 800 lawyers. “We were global before it was fashionable to be global,” Budarapu said. “We’ve been doing it so long it’s in our DNA.” Budarapu says that while the firm is large globally, it still has local expertise. And this, he says, allows the firm to service clients’ needs very seamlessly without having a lot of local law firms get involved. “We think we can do a cross-border transaction…