It has been lively couple of weeks for lateral hires, with Allen & Overy (A&O) making a significant play in New York as a host of firms recruited across the continent.
Hot on the heels of rehiring financial services regulation head Bob Penn in June, A&O has hired M&A partner Stephen Besen in New York from Shearman & Sterling.
Besen has 35 years of experience advising clients on mergers, tender offers, joint ventures, restructuring and private equity transactions. He also has pedigree in cross-border transactions, in areas including China, India, Latin America and the Middle East.
Richard Browne, A&O’s global co-head of corporate, commented: ‘His depth of experience and insight is a great fit for our international practice and a significant addition for our clients.’
Hogan Lovells made the sole UK hire last week, bringing in Nicola Fulford as a partner in the firm’s London-based privacy and cybersecurity practice.
Fulford, who arrives from Kemp Little, has in-house experience from working at UBS, as well as secondments at Google and IBM.
Eduardo Ustaran, co-director of Hogan Lovells’ privacy and cybersecurity practice, told Legal Business that his division now numbers around 100 lawyers globally. He commented: ‘We were looking for a true expert in the field and someone who had been involved in working with tech companies. Nicola has these qualities and will be a great cultural fit for us.’
DLA Piper was particularly active in Europe, firstly hiring partner Pierre Berger and his seven-strong team of lawyers from Baker McKenzie in Antwerp. Berger and his team have expertise in sectors spanning financial services and insurance.
DLA also strengthened its benches in Germany, hiring corporate partner Roland Maass from Latham & Watkins to its Frankfurt office. Maass had been with the US heavyweight since 2006, with his practice predominantly focused on capital markets transactions. Outside of Europe, DLA hired corporate partner Yang Ge from Shearman & Sterling to its Beijing hub.
Also in Germany, Dentons boosted its real estate practice with the hire of René Dubois from European outfit Noerr. The arrival of Dubois, who will be based in Munich, means Dentons can now offer real estate advice from all three of its German offices: Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich.
Staying with Dentons, the firm also strengthened its Moscow base with the double partner hires of Vladimir Sokov and Sergey Klimenko from Russian firm Pepeliaev Group. Sokov is a corporate and M&A specialist while Klimenko will join Dentons as head of its Russian life sciences practice.
Finally, in France, King & Spalding has appointed a pair of partners to its Paris office. Laurent Bensaid, a corporate partner, has joined from Parisian outfit Hoche Avocats where he was co-head of the firm’s M&A department. Also arriving was Laurent Jaeger, an arbitration partner who joined from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.