David Ereira, the City finance heavyweight who has spent 25 years as a partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and latterly Linklaters, has finally joined a US firm with Paul Hastings securing his hire.
Courted by a host of US firms, restructuring and debt finance partner Ereira will join Paul Hastings’ London office as a corporate partner. He made a rare jump between Magic Circle firms in 2007 when Linklaters senior partner Robert Elliott persuaded Ereira to join the Silk Street-based firm and has spent the majority of his time there advising PwC as the administrators of Lehman Brothers.
Arguably the most senior hire Paul Hastings has ever made in the City, Ereira’s arrival follows the announcement this week that Berwin Leighton Paisner’s (BLP) head of structured debt and capital markets, Paul Severs, has also agreed to join the firm. 2015 has also seen the hire of Duncan Woollard from King & Wood Mallesons to spearhead its private equity play in London and Ashurst banking partner Luke McDougall joining to expand its leveraged finance team in the City.
Paul Hastings restructuring chair Luc Despins said: ‘The addition of a lawyer of David’s standing and stature will be a great asset for us as we continue to enhance the quality and reputation of our restructuring practice in London. It is essential for us to offer leading-edge restructuring capability coherently across English law and US law, and having a partner of David’s experience adds significantly to our global strength.’
Ronan O’Sullivan, chair of the London office, added: ‘The development of a tier one finance and restructuring practice is a central component of our strategy in London and having someone of David’s reputation join us will continue our momentum and trajectory as we build out our capabilities in this practice. David’s arrival will add further depth and prestige to our practice here in London and will position us well to capitalise on restructuring opportunities that span across the UK, Europe and the US.’
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk
Subscribers can read about David Ereira’s career in: ‘Life During Law – David Ereira’ here.
