King & Spalding has hired Latham & Watkins’ former European vice chair of tax Daniel Friel, the latest in a number of strategic hires over the last 12 months as it looks to grow its London offering.
Friel has been a partner at Latham since 2006, after joining from Lovells where he had been head of the firm’s international tax practice. It took him just two years to gain a management position at Latham and was appointed European vice chair of tax and benefits in 2008.
With over 20 years of experience advising on tax planning matters on M&A and financing work, Friel becomes King & Spalding’s third tax partner in London. He is most well-known for his work advising private equity clients and sovereign wealth funds, and counts Bain Capital, Carlyle, Qatar Investment Authority and Deutsche Bank as clients, as well as having worked for brewer SAB Miller, ITV and brothers Sir David and Frederick Barclay. He also has experience in handling tax disputes and tax investigations by HMRC.
Commenting on Friel’s arrival, Abraham Shashy, leader of King & Spalding’s tax practice group said: ‘His tax expertise and extensive experience in building European tax practices at his previous firms make him a natural fit to help expand our European tax practices in London, Frankfurt and Paris.’
Friel becomes the 21st partner in King & Spalding’s London office, which pulled in £26.4m in revenue during 2014. His arrival follows that of fellow Latham partner Markus Bauman, a capital markets specialist who is New York-qualified, in November last year.
King & Spalding have secured a number of high profile hires in the past 12 months, including the founder of Berwin Leighton Paisner’s advocacy unit Stuart Isaacs QC in January this year and Linklaters partner Thomas O’Neill in November last year. The firm also launched a restructuring practice at the end of last year with the hire of Elisabeth Baltay from Bingham McCutchen’s collapsed London office.
Friel started his career as a chartered accountant with Coopers & Lybrand, which later went on to become PwC.
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk
