As Magic Circle firms strive to bolster their US operations, Clifford Chance (CC) has announced today (19 June) that it has recruited two senior corporate lawyers in its New York arm.
The insurance and private equity-focused Joseph Consentino returns to CC as a partner having left the London-bred giant for Greenberg Traurig in June 2015. Consentino’s practice focuses on public and private M&A, with emphasis in the insurance and buyout sectors. He had previously been a partner at CC from January 2012 until his departure.
The other senior hire sees insurance and regulatory specialist Alice Kane join the London firm from US practice Duane Morris, where she was a partner. She had worked as general counsel (GC) for Zurich Insurance Group until 2011. She also spent 26 years at New York Life Insurance Company, working up to GC and executive vice president level.
Other recent hires for CC in the US include financial restructuring partner Douglas Deutsch from Chadbourne & Parke and Robert Rice, the former chief counsel to the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the US’s primary markets watchdog. Both were hired in August 2016. Dan Silver from the US Attorney’s Office of New York also joined CC last summer. He was deputy chief of the criminal division and chief of the national security and cybercrime section.
CC US managing partner Evan Cohen commented: ‘In a little more than a year, our Americas practice has added nine lateral partners who are helping us build additional capabilities in areas of strategic importance in the US.’
The hires come as CC and its key peers are all attempting to bolster their US practices with key strategic hires, a huge challenge given the widening profits gap between leading New York and London law firms.
georgiana.tudor@legalease.co.uk