Having sought to upgrade its finance practice in New York since the 2010 union of Lovells and Hogan & Hartson, Hogan Lovells has made a senior hire to its Manhattan arm with the addition of Ronald Silverman from Bingham McCutchen.
The appointment comes as the top-20 global law firm also secured three senior recruits to its Asia network.
Silverman, a restructuring and insolvency specialist, joins Hogan Lovells months after the widely-publicised 227-partner mass takeover from ailing US practice Bingham by Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. He represents financial institutions, hedge funds, and other investors and handles Chapter 11 and Chapter 15 work on both the debtor and creditor side. Major instructions include acting as counsel to bondholders in the multinational restructuring proceedings of solar company Suntech Power Holdings; and as counsel to bondholders in the €1.2bn restructuring of European telecoms firm Wind Hellas.
‘Ron’s practice and expertise further diversifies our already established practice in New York,’ said Sharon Lewis, global finance practice group leader at Hogan Lovells. ‘His focus in the oil and gas industry will be an incredible asset as restructurings in the industry are expected to increase in the next few years, both in the US and abroad.’
In Hong Kong, meanwhile, the firm has bolstered its IP practice with the addition of Alan Chiu and Eugene Low, respectively a partner and senior associate at Mayer Brown JSM, alongside consultant Kenny Wong, who headed Mayer Brown JSM’s IP/IT practice in Asia for over 15 years.
Chiu brings experience in contentious and advisory IP work, in particular managing anti-counterfeiting portfolios and coordinating customs seizure programmes for clients in the Greater China region. Low also works on contentious matters, and advises on gaming laws, technology licensing and disputes, and copyright clearance projects. Hogan Lovells remains relatively unusual among large global players in treating IP as a core practice.
Other lateral hires made to the 2,300-lawyer firm’s Asia practice in recent months, which currently constitutes just 7% of firmwide revenues, includes Gide Loyrette Nouel’s Vietnam head, Samantha Campbell, to its Southeast Asia practice; Paul Hastings project finance head Joseph Kim to its Tokyo finance practice; and Kirkland & Ellis corporate partner Steven Tran to the Hong Kong corporate practice in September.
Hogan Lovells recently unveiled its financial results for 2014, with revenues rising 3.6% for the year to hit $1.78bn.
Sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk