Gadens Lawyers has appointed Ian Dardis, the recently departed president of Proudfoot Consulting's Pacific unit, as the law firm's new chief operating officer (COO).

The move comes following outgoing COO Jon Denovan's decision to move into a banking & finance partner role and pursue additional work in radio announcing. "We wanted someone who hadn't been a lawyer with general industry knowledge, because we wanted our firm to be different. We picked a great time to hire, since so many terrific people are available in the job market," Denovan said.

Dardis brings 20 years' experience in information and communication technology and consulting on the Financial System Inquiry, government, utilities and telecommunications. He has previously been the Asia Pacific vice president of applications business development at EDS, a global technology services provider, and has managed Deloitte & Touche's Central European Consulting practice. He will commence his new role on 19 June 2009.