This week’s lateral recruitment round-up has an international flavour as firms make key hires at home and abroad.
In the City, Anneliese Foster has re-joined Allen & Overy from Goldman Sachs, where she spent eight years as a managing director. Foster previously spent a decade at the magic circle firm, most recently as a senior associate, and brings broad experience covering real estate credit and assets, infrastructure debt transactions and holdco financings.
Global head of real estate debt finance, Mark Manson-Bahr, said: ‘Anneliese is a highly experienced lawyer who has developed an excellent reputation in the structured debt market in Europe. Her multi-faceted expertise is extensive and complements our ability to handle complex, cross-border mandates for all market constituents. Anneliese’s appointment demonstrates our commitment to investing in our capabilities so we can continue to deliver exceptional client service.’
CMS has also looked in-house for its most recent hire. The firm bolstered its financial services regulatory practice with the addition of Chris Glennie from the Bank of England, where he was senior legal counsel. He joined the bank in 2013 following nearly three years post-qualification experience at Travers Smith.
Meanwhile, Goodwin has also welcomed back an old colleague as private equity partner Ed Saunders re-joined the London office from Mayer Brown, where he was a senior associate. Saunders was previously a finance associate in Goodwin’s private equity practice for three years until 2019 and returns as a partner.
Elsewhere in the City, Howard Kennedy has hired capital markets partner Jeremy Landau from Memery Crystal. He was previously a partner at Taylor Wessing and K&L Gates, and brings experience in TMT and life sciences, among other sectors.
Across the Atlantic, LB100 firm gunnercooke has launched in New York with the hire of Noreen Weiss. Weiss joins as US chair and New York managing partner from corporate boutique MacDonald Weiss. This continues the firm’s ambitious growth, which saw its revenue increase by 50% in 2021 to £48m.
Founder Darryl Cooke told Legal Business that launching in the US was ‘a must’ to fulfil its ambition of being a leading firm. Of Weiss, he added: ‘Leadership is everything, whether a parish council or the leading firm in the world, and so we knew we would be ready when we found the right person to lead. That means someone with the right credentials but more importantly with a growth mindset who will work with us. We are delighted that we have found that in Noreen who shares how we think about culture, the people and the planet. We have set out to learn and grow and because of all that we have learned already, we believe that we will grow even faster in the US than we have in the UK.’
The firm’s flexible working model has allowed quick growth in the UK and now abroad. This follows the launch of four German offices in the last two years in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Munich.
Staying in Germany, Watson Farley & Williams and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) are among the firms to have bolstered their Frankfurt offering. Watson Farley hired infrastructure and energy partner Riko Vanezis from Clifford Chance while BCLP added real estate partner Martin Wilmsen from DLA Piper, where he was counsel.
Also in Frankfurt, Eversheds Sutherland has hired patent litigator Anette Gärtner from Reed Smith. Gärtner is the latest addition to its soon-to-be-opened Frankfurt office, following the announcement of its launch with the hire of corporate and M&A partner Steffen Schniepp from PwC’s legal practice in September. The office is set to open in January 2023.
Finally, White & Case has hired antitrust partner Belinda Harvey in Sydney. She joins after nearly 15 years at Norton Rose Fulbright, and previously spent three years at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Head of White & Case’s global antitrust practice, Mark Gidley, said: ‘The addition of Belinda following Stefanie Benson’s arrival in September sends a clear message to the Australian and wider Asia-Pacific market that we are establishing a standalone antitrust practice that can advise clients on the full breadth of antitrust and regulatory issues they face. This significant expansion in Asia Pacific will further bolster our global reputation as a leading antitrust practice, in addition to servicing the growing need for antitrust capabilities on-the-ground in the region.’
