Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Baker Botts LLP, the 725-attorney international law firm, named Andrew M. Baker, a corporate lawyer with 33 years at the firm, as its new managing partner.

Baker’s appointment will take effect April 1, the firm said today in a statement. He succeeds Walter J. Smith, who will retire at the end of this year, the Houston-based firm said.

“I am honored that my partners have placed their confidence in me to continue building on Baker Botts’ reputation as a ‘best in class’ law firm representing clients globally in complex matters,” Baker, 56, said in the statement.

Baker, who has offices in Houston and Dallas, joined the firm in 1979. He currently serves on Baker Botts’s executive committee, and will remain in Houston once he assumes his new position.

--Editors: Fred Strasser, Michael Hytha

To contact the reporter on this story: Ian Thomas in New York at ithomas15@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net