City recruitment picked up after a lull last week as Dentons strengthened its bench in London at the hand of Eversheds Sutherland, which saw moves both ways.
Dentons announced the hire of Howard Barrie, who re-joins the firm after several years at Eversheds Sutherland. Barrie had previously spent 19 years with Dentons in his first stint at the firm, and returns to its finance practice.
Barrie focuses on projects and project finance, as well as structured trade finance and commodity finance. Paul Holland, head of Dentons’ UK and banking finance practice, commented: ‘Paul brings an immense amount of international experience – in particular with regards to Africa – to the table, and we are confident he will help us to further enhance and grow our project finance work across the African continent and elsewhere’
Coming the other way, Eversheds made an addition to its City real estate practice in the form of Morgan Lewis & Bockius partner Paul Beausang. He was previously London head of tax at K&L Gates, and specialises in real estate tax structuring and transactional execution.
David Watkins, global co-head of real estate at Eversheds, commented on the hire: ‘The depth and market knowledge of UK real estate structuring offered by our real estate practice is a great match for Paul’s strength and expertise.’
Also in London, Hogan Lovells announced the hire of Jennifer O’Connell as finance partner to its London international debt capital markets practice. Jennifer returns to the firm from an in-house role at CACIB, the corporate and investment banking arm of the Crédit Agricole Group.
International recruitment continued apace last week, with CMS hiring Michał Mężykowski in Poland from Dentons. Mężykowski will join the firm’s banking and finance practice, bringing experience advising financial institutions with a particular focus on the real estate market. Mężykowski had been a partner at Dentons for eight years.
Across the Atlantic, Kennedys bolstered its New York office with the hire of Mark Dessi from US firm Skarzynski Black. Dessi had previously been at Sharzynski Black since 2014, and has experience representing insurers in negotiating and litigating first and third party insurance claims.
Dessi commented: ‘This move appealed to me for many reasons, including joining Kennedys’ impressive financial lines practice. Given the nature of my practice, the breadth and depth of the firm’s global network was especially important.’
Further afield, Stephenson Harwood announced the hire of Kevin Lee to its global private wealth practice. Lee will join the firm’s Hong Kong office from Zhong Lun Law Firm, where he had been since 2015.
Stephenson Harwood partner Ian Devereux commented on the hire: ‘Having a lawyer of Kevin’s quality – seen by many as the premier Canadian tax and private wealth advisor in Hong Kong – enables us to broaden the support we can provide to our clients.’
In South America, Mayer Brown announced the hire of Raúl Fernández-Briseño, who joins the firm as partner in Mexico City. Fernández joins from American firm White & Case, and has experience in transactional matters and financing, particularly in the aviation and private equity industries.
Fernández had spent nearly 20 years at White & Case and will serve as the head of M&A at Mayer Brown in Mexico City. Commenting on his move, Fernández said: ‘Mayer Brown has a sterling reputation among different industries, which view the firm as a fantastic resource for solving complex problems and steering clients through sophisticated transactions’
