Justin D’Agostino will have plenty on his plate when he formally takes over as Herbert Smith Freehills’ (HSF) global dispute resolution head on 1 May.

While he will be handing over his China managing partner responsibilities to someone else, he has some pretty big shoes to fill replacing Sonya Leydecker – the firm’s heavyweight incoming joint chief executive. Given his intention to continue fee-earning work, it could prove to be quite a workload.