Following the hires of CMS real estate heavyweights Alan Karsberg and Simon Kanter last month, Fladgate has added to the blow, with the duo now bringing across an eight-lawyer team in London.
Both partners were veterans of legacy Olswang, with Kanter joining the firm in 2006 after Olswang’s acquisition of Kanter Jules. Meanwhile Karsberg enjoyed two stints at Olswang, starting as a solicitor at the firm in 1999 before a spell in-house at Merrill Lynch. He re-joined Olswang in 2004.
CMS cited ‘confidential client conflict issues’ as the reason for the exodus in a written statement. The wider team leaving for Fladgate is comprised of four senior associates and three associates, as well as one member of the support team. Senior associate James Norton will be joining Fladgate as partner in the move.
The moves are a significant fillip for Fladgate’s bench in the City and follow a sustained investment in the last four years. This year alone, it has hired at partner level insolvency and restructuring lawyer Daniel Martin from Ropes & Gray, commercial and financial services litigation partner Ben Drew from Osborne Clarke, real estate partner Helen Curtis-Goulding from Mishcon de Reya, Sandra Bates, capital markets and resources partner from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, disputes and arbitration partner David Breslin from Gowling WLG and property litigation partner Tim Foley from Clyde & Co.
Fladgate chairman, Richard Reuben, commented: ‘Simon and Alan’s team has a long track record of success and we are delighted that a team of this calibre has joined Fladgate. It is a testament to the strength of our existing platform and the firm’s ambitions that they have chosen to come across to us.’