Two-and- a-half years after joining US dispute specialist Boies, Schiller & Flexner’s nascent City practice, experienced arbitration specialist Wendy Miles QC will move to rival US firm Debevoise & Plimpton from the beginning of March.
Miles QC (pictured), who in 2014 joined Boies Schiller to help develop its year-old City disputes outpost after a 15-year career at another US firm, WilmerHale, will join an established Debevoise London team that includes London co-managing partner Lord Goldsmith QC, Kevin Lloyd and Tony Dymond.
The addition of Miles QC, who is vice president of the ICC Court of Arbitration and took silk in the January 2015 Queen’s Counsel selection round, adds strength to a Debevoise London team that has suffered its own losses in recent years, including arbitration rising star Sophie Lamb to Latham & Watkins last summer and international counsel Jessica Gladstone to Clifford Chance in late 2015.
Michael Blair, presiding partner at Debevoise, said: ‘Our international disputes practice is one of the jewels in the Debevoise crown. It has an extraordinary win record, and our lawyers hold leadership roles with virtually every major arbitration body in the world. It is also an incredibly competitive area of the law, and so we are keen not to rest on our laurels. Bringing in Wendy means we are strengthening a strength. She is a hugely respected practitioner in this market.’
Miles QC added: ‘Debevoise has an impressive team and has been involved in market shaping arbitrations and public international law work in recent years. Its global platform and commitment to providing advocacy in the UK fit well with my own practice and recent experience.’
With broad arbitration experience, Miles QC has spent over 20 years’ representing multinationals, sovereign states and state entities in public international law matters. In June 2008, she notably advised war-torn southern Sudan at The Permanent Court of Arbitration in a case that redrew the boundaries of the oil-rich Abyei region.
tom.baker@legalease.co.uk