Debt finance specialist Rahul Chatterji became the latest partner to leave Shearman & Sterling this week, with Linklaters announcing that he will join its Asia banking practice in May. Chatterji has experience in cross-border transactions, with a particular focus on India and Southeast Asia. He will move first to Linklaters’ London office, before relocating to Singapore later in the year.
The week also saw a flurry of hires in the real estate sector, with Legal 500 leading individual and disputes specialist Owen Talfan Davies moving to Withers from Fieldfisher, where he was a senior equity partner.
Jeremy Wakeham, head of the business division at Withers, explained the hire to Legal Business: ‘We’ve been looking to really grow our real estate disputes expertise. To do that, we wanted a heavy-hitting property disputes partner who could cover the whole gamut of real estate disputes, with a background in the bigger-ticket commercial disputes arena. And that’s what we have in Owen.’
The move follows the firm’s December hire of a team from Charles Russell Speechlys, led by partners Simon Ewing and Ruby Dalal, and further bolsters its real estate practice on the contentious side, which Wakeham believes will be increasingly busy.
‘You’re going to see more landlord and tenant disputes as tenants are going to look to reassess their requirements, and landlords look to shore up the investment value of their assets.’
Herbert Smith Freehills, meanwhile, has hired Ashurst’s head of non-contentious construction Matthew Bool into its real estate team. Recognised as a next-generation partner in the Legal 500, Bool has experience advising on procurement strategy, construction and property documentation, and development projects.
Elsewhere, transactional real estate partner Sarah Atkinson has joined Addleshaw Goddard from Greenberg Traurig. Atkinson has expertise in private equity transactions, including development finance and bond leaseback work. Her move follows the 2021 hire of Daniel Woolston, also from Greenberg Traurig, and Catherine Williams’ return to the firm in March after eight years at Shoosmiths.
Howard Kennedy has also grown its real estate practice with the hire of Huseyin Huseyin from Harold Benjamin. Huseyin’s practice sees him advise housebuilders and developers on residential mixed-use projects on greenfield and brownfield sites, and his hire signals the firm’s intention to expand in residential real estate.
Also in real estate, former Maples Teesdale real estate finance head Rohan Campbell has moved to Burges Salmon, along with of counsel Tom Farrell, who joins the firm as a legal director.
‘The chance to plug a pair of really good real estate finance lawyers into our wider built environment sector practice was a significant driver,’ banking and finance team lead Andrew Eaton told Legal Business.
‘There’s a big opportunity for us, particularly in the mid-market. Last year there was a big bump in deal flow, and we’re starting to see that come back. There’s still a desire on the part of clients to look for opportunities.’
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner has also made moves in the area, expanding its corporate real estate and funds team with the hire of cross-border transactional specialist Luke Mines from Morrison Foerster.
Mines spent time at Linklaters and Reed Smith before moving to Morrison Foerster in 2019, and has experience advising clients both domestically and across Europe, where BCLP has extended its coverage in recent years, opening a French office in 2020 and building up in Germany in 2022.
‘Certainly the French and German offering here was a real draw to me’, said Mines. UK real estate group head Samant Narula echoed this point, and stressed the firm’s continued focus on real estate despite economic turmoil. ‘Volatility in the debt markets has meant that the volume of transactional work has decreased. But we’ve been in a good position because of our broad client base, who continue to be active in asset management and development. We know there’s a lot of money out there, ready to invest. So the key is patience. When the opportunities arise, clients will do deals.’
Elsewhere, Irwin Mitchell has hired commercial litigation and arbitration partner David Vaughan from Collyer Bristow. Previously head of both the litigation practice and the London office at Shakespeare Martineau, Vaughan is a chartered arbitrator with strong experience in multijurisdictional disputes.
Legal director Steve Downey has left Squire Patton Boggs to join TLT’s structured finance practice as a partner, which expanded in December with the hire of new team co-lead Mark Thomas, who also joined from Squire Patton Boggs.
Dechert has also continued to grow its global finance practice, bringing over structured finance specialist Aaron Scott from Paul Hastings. Scott has experience advising on matters relating to collateralised loan obligations, and his hire extends Dechert’s European offering, which also expanded in Munich with the hire of private equity partner Kai Terstiege from WilmerHale.
Finally, commercial outsourcing and tech partner Nathan Evans has moved from Harrison Clark Rickerbys to Fladgate, where he will extend its tech sector offering. Evans has experience advising clients from startups to established companies in areas including legal tech, fintech, and trade tech, on issues including digital transformation, platform development, and system support.