Leading this week’s high-profile moves, Allen & Overy has appointed John Goldfinch as a partner in its global structured finance practice in advance of its planned merger with Shearman & Sterling. Previously at Milbank, Goldfinch has experience dealing with derivative products and securitisation asset classes including CLOs and CDOs (cash and synthetic), lease receivables, trade receivables, equity, credit rates, NPLs, covered bond transactions and secured structured lending.
Goldfinch brings with him a team of four senior associates from Milbank: Adrian Kwok, Peter West, Eleanor Cripps and Alexandra Wells. A&O has highlighted private capital as a key strategic focus for the firm, with its private capital revenue growing by over 60% over the past two years.
Elsewhere in London, Taylor Wessing has strengthened its financial services regulatory offering with the hire of Charlotte Witherington. Witherington, who moves from Freshfields, where she was a senior associate, is the firm’s third partner hire of 2024, following the appointment of disputes specialist Ryan Ferry to the firm’s Dublin office and IP specialist Giles Crown in London.
Speaking to Legal Business about the move, Witherington said: ‘There has never been a better time to be a financial services regulatory lawyer (obviously no bias there!). We are living through a busy and varied regulatory environment in the UK and beyond, and the most exciting growth opportunity lies at the intersection of technology and traditional financial services – within fintech, digital currencies and artificial intelligence.’
Meanwhile, Reed Smith has bolstered its private equity and corporate transactions group in London with the addition of Tom Whelan from McDermott, where he was head of its private equity and corporate transactions group..
Pinsent Masons has appointed pensions litigation partner Charlotte Scholes to its London office. She acts for trustees, representative beneficiaries, and employers in rectification and construction proceedings. She also has experience advising on professional negligence claims. Scholes is returning to Pinsent Masons after spending four years at Gowling WLG.
Scholes told Legal Business ‘I’m proud to come back to Pinsent Masons. It is a time of rapid change in the pensions litigation world, with de-risking transactions revealing problems that have previously gone unnoticed. I’m looking forward to working with my colleagues to help clients respond to the challenges that these present.’
Elsewhere, Osborne Clarke has welcomed partner Jack Prytherch to its tax disputes team. Prytherch joins from CMS, where he helped to build its UK tax disputes practice and brings with him extensive experience in all forms of both direct and indirect contentious tax matters, including HMRC enquiries and compliance checks, HMRC civil information powers, tax offences and serious investigations, voluntary disclosures and penalty mitigation, and commercial tax disputes.
In the US, Boies Schiller Flexner has bolstered its international arbitration practice with the appointment of Kristen Young. Young, whose corporate clients include TECO Energy, Israel Chemicals, Webuild and Orascom TMT Investments, specialises in international investment and commercial arbitration matters, such as annulment and international enforcement proceedings. She moves from White & Case.
‘My move to BSF was prompted by the growth and recent successes of the international arbitration team in the US and in London, and by the opportunity to help drive that growth forward from Washington DC. I was particularly attracted by BSF’s deep trial law experience and by its commitment to achieving creative, efficient, and successful outcomes for its clients,’ Young told Legal Business.
Simpson Thacher has strengthened its financial institutions practice with a five-partner team hire in the US from Skadden. Sven Mickisch, Brian Christiansen, Bao Nguyen, Matt Nemeroff and Tim Gaffney will join Simpson Thacher’s New York and Washington DC. offices. Mickisch has been appointed as managing partner of the firm’s financial institutions practice, having previously held the role of co-head of the financial institutions group and co-head of the fintech practice at Skadden.
In Germany, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer prepares to welcome leading energy regulation practitioner Stefan Schröder as a partner in Düsseldorf. He joins from Hogan Lovells, where he served as global head of its energy transition group for four years. A longstanding adviser of major European energy infrastructure operators and investors, Schröder brings extensive experience in energy trading, emissions trading, and renewable energy law.
Meanwhile, the firm has added private funds and secondaries partner Ivet Bell to its New York office. She moves from Sidley. Bell’s practice covers the full spectrum of private funds transactions, and she has experience advising on manager formation, GP stakes deals, fund formation, secondaries transactions and LP primary investment and co-investments.
