Many of the City’s lateral recruiters may have taken a half term break this week, as disputes and IP were the busiest areas in a sluggish market domestically and overseas.
The headline arrival came at Gibson Dunn, which has recruited the current president of the European Court of Human Rights, Robert Spano (pictured), into its London disputes team. Spano, who will join the firm as of counsel from the beginning of 2023, will provide expertise in digital rights, having handed down a number of landmark judgments in relation to online content moderation and freedom of expression, while his practice will also span public international law and investor-state arbitration.
Osborne Clarke also made notable London additions as it brought in two for its London disputes team – Trevor Crosse from Marks & Clerk Law and Benedicte Perowne from Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF).
A partner since 2019, Crosse has experience handling patent litigation cases on behalf of biotech originator companies, while also assisting with enforcement strategies and freedom to operate analyses.
Speaking to Legal Business, OC head of UK IP disputes, Arty Rajendra, said: ‘Some years ago Osborne Clarke identified that it was under strength in IP compared to its competitors and could do more to take advantage of the firm’s reputation as a cutting-edge technology firm. There has been a concerted campaign over the past six years of Osborne Clarke really focusing on IP and building it out. Part of that was me joining in 2017 with a team, and subsequently we’ve recruited two, and now three, dedicated patent litigation partners. We have now reached a great position and size, but there is still an appetite to grow in IP and we are actively going out into the market and have been speaking to lots of potential lateral hires in all areas of IP.
‘It would be lovely, obviously, if his previous clients followed Trevor. But actually, we really wanted to bring him in to deal with existing work. A lot of these big patent litigation cases require two to three partners on each case. When you have multiple big cases in the pipeline, as we do, you need significant bench strength at a partner level to do the work. So recruiting Trevor was really to support the existing client work that we’ve already got, but anything else he brings is a bonus, of course.’
A senior associate at HSF, Perowne joins OC as a partner and specialises in financial services regulation disputes, working with financial services and retail banking clients, while also having clients in the insurance sector.
Head of contentious financial services at OC, Rachel Couter, told LB: ‘I’ve been looking in the market for probably the best part of a year for another partner to add bench strength to our contentious financial services capability. When we hire at Osborne Clarke, we look for the expertise but we also look for the right cultural fit. Of those I spoke to with the relevant expertise, Benedicte was far and away the perfect fit for my team. So I’m absolutely thrilled and really excited to have her.
‘Having joined Osborne Clarke roughly five years ago, and with the interim promotions of Charles Crowne and Nick Price, we have grown to a really strong four-partner team who can support and help our clients in the financial services regulatory space.’
Meanwhile, Keunyoung Oh has been brought into DLA Piper’s City tax team from Baker McKenzie. A senior associate at her previous firm, Oh joins DLA as a partner. Dual qualified as a chartered accountant and solicitor, Oh’s arrival is part of the firm’s strategy to develop its tax capabilities in the UK and internationally.
Outside the City, Stevens & Bolton recruited a new partner to its corporate tax and incentives practice in Guildford. Sarah Cardew joined from Irwin Mitchell, where she was head of commercial tax and advised on the tax issues relating to M&A, stamp duty and VAT.
CMS also bolstered its team, hiring Sarah Klaczynska and Katie Goulding into its Sheffield IP team. Klaczynska joined as a senior patent attorney, having previously worked at GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines where she developed expertise in using IP to protect vaccine innovation. Senior trademark attorney Goulding arrived from specialist patent and trademark firm HGF Limited and helps start-ups secure IP funding and grow their IP.
On the continent, the Paris office of Norton Rose Fulbright was bolstered by the arrival of partners Kamel Ben Salah and Pierre François. Ben Salah joins the banking and finance group from French firm Gide Loyrette Nouel, where he earned a leading individual ranking in The Legal 500 and is charged with developing his new firm’s real estate finance offering domestically and abroad. François has come into the corporate practice from Pinsent Masons, where he advised on French domestic and cross-border M&A transactions for clients from sectors including financial services and healthcare.
Finally, on the West Coast, Cooley added to its contentious IP offering by hiring Christa Anderson as a partner in San Francisco. Formerly of Keker, Van Nest & Peters, Anderson brings experience in disputes relating to all forms of IP and has a history of advising leading technology and life science companies.
Cooley litigation chair, Mike Attanasio, said: ‘We are committed to the continued strategic growth of Cooley’s elite, diverse team of courtroom advocates to meet the needs of our top technology clients in Silicon Valley and globally. Christa’s trial experience and her list of significant wins in high-profile matters make her a fantastic addition to our IP litigation practice group.’
