May has been a quiet month for the London lateral market, with Addleshaw Goddard making the only notable City move last week as the firm strengthened its City banking practice. However in the Middle East Ashurst and DLA Piper made significant hires, while Paul Hastings and Allen & Overy (A&O) both made plays in Europe.
Addleshaw Goddard hired well-regarded leveraged finance and banking partner Peter Crichton from McDermott Will & Emery. He will now join the active mid-market practice currently led by Alex Dumphy, while Amanda Gray, Addleshaws’ finance and projects division managing partner, welcomed the hire: ‘The leveraged finance market is becoming increasingly fractured with an ever-growing number of lenders, and we have seen a proliferation in debt funds. Peter’s appointment provides necessary bandwidth to win new market share across the broad spectrum of this market, as well as additional resource to combine with our award-winning private equity team on sponsor-side transactions.’
Elsewhere, the Middle East saw activity with DLA Piper and Ashurst both making moves. DLA Piper appointed Will Seivewright as a partner and head of the firm’s corporate practice in the region. Seivewright joins from Baker McKenzie where he had been since 2014, with a practice that focuses on public and private M&A, joint ventures and corporate restructurings.
Ashurst meanwhile strengthened its Middle East oil and gas team with the appointment of Luke Robottom, who joins from White & Case. The move brings to an end a 10-year stint at White & Case for Robottom, where he advised the development and financing of major infrastructure projects. Joining Robottom will be current Ashurst energy and resources partner Stuart James, who relocates to Abu Dhabi.
In Europe Paul Hastings made a Paris move, announcing that tax partner Bruno Leroy will join the firm. Leroy joins from Dechert where he was partner and advised on M&A and private equity tax structuring, as well as acting for French international companies on initial public offerings.
Allen & Overy also made a European move, choosing Warsaw to hire Michal Matera who joins the firm’s real estate group. Matera decamps from White & Case where he was partner, with his move forming part of a strategy to strengthen A&O’s real estate practice in Poland.
Across the border in Germany, Baker McKenzie made a move of its own, hiring Silke Gantzckow in Frankfurt as partner. Gantzckow joins from DLA Piper where she had been a partner since 2010, bringing with her a wider team and a focus on cross-border and domestic transactions for industrial companies.
Finally in Asia, Morrison & Foerster hired Lucy (Qiong) Lu, who will join the firm’s corporate practice in Beijing. Lu had previously been a partner in Dechert’s Beijing office, where she focused on Hong Kong and US capital markets transactions.
