Greenberg Traurig has hired a pair of disputes partners from Mishcon de Reya, in an uncommon departure for the litigation and private client specialists and a significant addition for the US outfit.
Partners Mohammed Khamisa QC and Masoud Zabeti are poised to join the London office of Greenberg. Zabeti is currently the head of the finance and banking disputes group at Mishcon, having first joined the firm over a decade ago. His practice focuses on advising hedge funds, asset managers and private equity houses on various disputes.
Khamisa, meanwhile, has been a partner in Mishcon’s banking and finance group since 2015, having formerly been joint head of chambers at Old Bailey Chambers. He was made Queen’s Counsel in 2006 and has experience in white collar crime having been on the Serious Fraud Office’s Panel of Leading Counsel.
Greenberg’s executive chairman Richard Rosenbaum commented: ‘Our strategy has long been to build and change from strength, always being ready for what was coming next. In our major financial centres, and in Europe generally, balancing our strong and growing transactional practices with strong capabilities in dispute and restructuring practices is fully consistent with our core philosophy.’
A statement from Mishcon’s head of dispute resolution Kas Nouroozi (pictured) read: ‘While the timing of their departure is yet to be agreed we thank both Masoud and Mohammed for their contribution over a number of years to the firm.’
For Mishcon, the exits make for more unwelcome news following the firm’s withdrawal from Manhattan after ten years in the City. The retreat was actioned in January after three partners decamped to the New York office of King & Wood Mallesons, with disputes partners Mark Raskin, Robert Whiteman and Vincent Filardo all leaving alongside six senior counsel and one paralegal.