DLA Piper has appointed Nabarro’s head of alternative investment funds, Andrew Wylie (pictured), to lead growth in its City investment funds practice.
Wylie joins as DLA’s London head of investment funds, which falls under the firm’s corporate practice. His arrival fills the void left by London head of funds Gawain Hughes, who departed last summer for US firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.
Wylie was a member of Nabarro’s partnership board and his clients range from hedge fund managers, private equity funds and real estate funds to family offices, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds. He advises on the full spectrum of funds work, including the structuring and establishment of funds and their restructuring and counts wealth manager Walker Crips, oil and gas fund manager Linton Capital and South Street Asset Management as clients.
DLA international head of corporate Bob Bishop said: ‘Andrew is a skilled and experienced lawyer who brings with him solid, wide-ranging funds experience and an impressive client list.’
Wylie is arguably the corporate practice’s biggest hire in the City since private equity partner Tim Wright, who joined from King & Wood Mallesons two years ago. More recently the firm has been making a play in the finance space, hiring Slaughter and May’s former head of derivatives Mark Dwyer and Baker & McKenzie’s former head of structured capital markets veteran Vincent Keaveny.
DLA UK head of corporate Charlie Cook added: ‘We’re looking to expand the funds team. There are lots of opportunities within our international business we could do for existing clients, even without winning external work. We have a strong real estate group and we believe there is also an opportunity to do more in real estate funds.’
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk
