City recruitment was active last week, as Crowell & Moring and Dentons made the standout hires while Baker Botts also made a City move.
US firm Crowell & Moring led the way in the City, recruiting a three-partner team from Squire Patton Boggs a month after hiring financial litigation partner and former City head Robert Weekes from the same firm. Weekes will be joined by litigation partner Laurence Winston, London insolvency head Cathryn Williams and insolvency partner Paul Muscutt.
The hires add to the list of recent departures for Squire Patton Boggs, after 15 lawyers decamped to Morgan Lewis last week.
Dentons also showed ambition in London, hiring structured finance and derivatives partner Luke Whitmore from LB100 pacesetter Fieldfisher. Whitmore had been a partner at Fieldfisher since 2013, predominantly acting for clients on securities lending, over the counter derivatives and prime brokerage and future markets. Whitmore joins alongside former Allen & Overy (A&O) counsel Yusuf Battiwala.
Dentons chief executive for the UK and Middle East Jeremy Cohen commented: ‘We’re delighted to welcome Luke and Yusuf to Dentons, significantly strengthening our banking and finance capabilities in the UK and Middle East region with their global expertise. Their hires represent a long term strategic aim to develop our derivatives practice, as well as to build on our structured finance and capital markets capabilities more generally.’
A&O, meanwhile, had a move in the right direction in the City last week, expanding its regulatory and consulting business with the addition of Tom Lodder as managing director of A&O consulting. Before joining the Magic Circle outfit, Lodder had been head of regulatory policy at Barclays, where he led on policy issues relating to Brexit, US regulatory recalibration and market infrastructure regulation in Europe. Lodder will now act out of London covering the UK, Europe and the Middle East for A&O.
Baker Botts also made a City play, hiring Poupak Anjomshoaa to its litigation and international arbitration practice. Anjomshoaa joins from Norton Rose Fulbright where she was partner for over a year, having previously also held an in-house role as general counsel and company secretary at Carbon Holdings.
Meanwhile in Europe, offshore firm Ogier strengthened its tax practice with the hire of William Jean-Baptiste in Luxembourg as partner. Jean-Baptiste joins from CMS Luxembourg, where he had been for over two years acting cross areas of acquisitions, holding structures for real estate, private equity and private capital investment.
Ogier’s Luxembourg practice partner Daniel Richards said: ‘As well as having a strong track record in advising on complex business transactions, William is a recognised thought leader on tax matters and has a well-deserved reputation for technical excellence with a client-orientated and collaborative approach.’
