The global chair of Baker McKenzie, Paul Rawlinson, is taking a temporarily leave because of “medical issues caused by exhaustion,” according to an Oct. 22 firm press release.

Bogota, Columbia-based partner Jaime Trujillo Caicedo will be taking over as the firm’s acting chair, according to the release.

Caicedo, who is known as “Jaime Trujillo,” according to a firm spokesperson, is a member of Baker McKenzie’s global executive committee, and is chair of its financial committee, according to his biography on his firm page.

During his time away, Rawlinson will abdicate leadership as well as client responsibilities, the release said.

London-based Rawlinson, an intellectual property lawyer, led the firm’s global IP practice from 2004-10. He counts Cisco, L’Oréal, British American Tobacco, and Eli Lilly among his clients, according to his bio.

Caicedo handles mergers and acquisitions, infrastructure projects, and project financing work, according to his bio.

Baker McKenzie doesn’t have an estimated date for Rawlinson’s return, “although we expect it will be soon,” the Baker spokesperson told Bloomberg Law in a written statement.

Asked whether the firm could elaborate on Rawlinson’s condition, the spokesperson said the temporary leave was “based on a personal medical issue. We can’t speculate as to the exact nature of that issue. There are likely to be many factors that have contributed to his exhaustion, but we have to respect his privacy.”

Chicago-based Baker McKenzie was named as the top-ranked global law firm brand for the ninth-straight year in a survey released this month that was sponsored by Acritas, a legal market research company.

Rawlinson said at the time that the firm’s brand success was due to “a new type of thinking and a different mindset.”

“It requires lawyers who collaborate well across borders, markets and industries around the globe,” he said.

Source: Bloomberg