City laterals were busy last week as an array of firms strengthened their London benches, while Dentons led the way abroad with a new Düsseldorf office.
Omar Al-Ali joined Reed Smith’s London office in the firm’s energy and natural resources group. Previously a partner at Simmons & Simmons, Al-Ali specialises in structured trade and commodities finance. He also counts ten years’ experience at Magic Circle firm Linklaters.
Commenting on the hire, Reed Smith global chair of the energy and natural resource group Praj Samant said: ‘The addition of Omar further cements our reputation as a go-to international structured trade and commodities finance practice. Omar is a talented lawyer with strong client relationships and we’re thrilled to have him on board.’
Global giant DLA Piper, meanwhile, announced the hire of Clive Jones as partner in the firm’s London tax practice. Jones joins from US firm Greenberg Traurig where he had been working as a partner since 2017. Advising on matters related to tax, structuring and international transactions, Jones works primarily in the real estate and financial services sectors.
Eversheds Sutherland strengthened its global privacy and cybersecurity offering with the hire of Simon Morrissey from Lewis Silkin, where he spearheaded the data and privacy legal practice group.
Morgan Lewis was also busy in the City last week via a double corporate hire in Mike Pierides and Simon Lightman. Both join from Pillsbury Lawyers where they gained experience representing clients on major outsourcing and commercial transactions.
Meanwhile, Dorsey & Whitney secured the services of Phil Slater to the firm’s banking and finance practice as partner in London. Slater joins Dorsey from Morrison & Foerster where he had four-year spell as partner in its City financial transactions group.
Internationally, hiring remained busy with Eversheds and Dentons being the primary movers.
Globetrotting Dentons announced plans to open a new office in Düsseldorf. Two new partners will be part of the firm’s fourth office in Germany, and join from Taylor Wessing. Andreas Haak joins the firm to head up the office as Düsseldorf managing partner, having previously been head of competition, EU and trade at Taylor Wessing. He will be joined alongside Sascha Grosjean, who advises employment matters in relation to acquisitions of companies.
Commenting on the office opening, Dentons global chairman Joe Andrew said: ‘As the capital of the largest and most densely populated region in Germany, and the country’s number one city for FDI, Düsseldorf is a hot spot for investment and a priority market for our global clients. It is the natural choice as the next phase in our German market positioning strategy.’
Elsewhere, Eversheds recruited tax partner Oliver Gaston-Braud in Luxembourg from Elvinger Hoss Prussen. Possessing experience advising funds, private equity and investment firms, Gaston-Braud is expected to work closely with the firm’s Luxembourg funds practice. The firm also hired Maximilian Findeisen in Düsseldorf, joining from MKRG, having also had stints at Hogan Lovells and Hengeler Mueller, where he specialised in corporate M&A.
