After a flurry of lateral hire announcements before the City broke for Christmas in 2013, yesterday (6 January) saw two noteworthy partner moves between international law firms as DLA Piper partner Martin Rees joins Squire Sanders regulatory practice group and private equity and investment funds partner Tom Cartwright joins Morgan Lewis & Bockius London office from Taylor Wessing.
Competition lawyer Rees specialises in cartel investigations and appeals. Having qualified in 1976, Rees was introduced to competition law in the 1980s while working in the British Coal Corporation legal department, before joining the then Brewer’s Society in 1988 where he was general secretary and chief legal adviser. He joined DLA in 1999, where he was head of competition until 2002.
A recognised lobbyist, having represented the European brewing industry before the European Commission on new legislation concerning vertical restraints, Rees is currently advising the British Beer and Pub Association and the Brewers of Europe on the internal market aspects of indirect taxation.
Joseph Markoski, Squire Sanders’ regulatory practice group leader said: ‘The expansion of our global competition law practice has been one of the firm’s key strategic goals as cross-border merger and international cartel activity and related global antitrust civil litigation continue to grow.’
Rees is the fifth competition law partner to join the 1300-lawyer firm after Mark Botti, J. Brady Dugan and Anthony Swisher joined the firm’s Washington DC office from Akin Gump, and Edouard Sarrazin joined the firm in Paris from Magenta law firm.
Markoski added: ‘Martin is one of a number of senior appointments we have made over the past year, which included the addition of three partners to our antitrust team in Washington, DC and one in Paris, and bolsters our ability to handle competition matters of any type anywhere in the world.’
Meanwhile, Morgan Lewis has bolstered its business and finance practice with private equity and investment funds lawyer Tom Cartwright, who joins from Taylor Wessing.
Cartwright, who joined Taylor Wessing in 2007 from legacy Hammonds, where he became a partner in 2004, advises private equity and hedge funds based in London and New York. Charles Engros, head of Morgan Lewis’s business and finance practice said: ‘We welcome Tom to the practice as he will deepen our cross-border transactional offering and ability to provide a high level of counsel to active investors in a multitude of industry sectors within the private equity arena.
‘Additionally, his experience advising family offices in the Middle East will help us to better serve a growing contingent of clients in the region.’
Christopher Harrison, co-managing partner of Morgan Lewis’s London office added: ‘Tom’s addition continues the expansion and meaningful transformation that our London office has undergone in recent years as part of an effort to provide UK and international clients counsel across a broad range of matters.
‘Tom’s skill set and experience will be well integrated with that of our fund formation lawyers and enhance our ability to assist funds considering investment in the UK and Europe.’
This hire comes just a few months after Morgan Lewis’ Paris office saw a nine-partner team leave to join local office of Gide Loyrette Nouel in October, leaving the US firm with just three local partners.
francesca.fanshawe@legalease.co.uk