London has been the focus of a series of hires for top national, City and US firms including DAC Beachcroft, RPC, K&L Gates and Reed Smith, as Dechert has also boosted its Moscow offering with a hire of a partner from Hogan Lovells.
Adrian Williams joins DAC Beachcroft’s corporate insurance team from reinsurance giant Swiss Re, where he was general counsel for Europe, Middle East and Africa, and was based in Zurich. The firm has also bolstered its real estate team in London with the hire of Nathan East from Hempsons. East specialises in advising medical professionals, care providers and the NHS.
‘We are delighted to welcome Nathan to the firm. His appointment adds an important extra dimension to our existing health practice with his considerable experience of advising GPs,’ said Eve Gregory, head of the firm’s health real estate team.
Elsewhere, 1,548-lawyer firm Reed Smith continues to grow its London office with the appointment of Eoin O’Shea as a partner in the firm’s global regulatory disputes practice based in London. Joining from Lawrence Graham (LG), O’Shea is known for his disputes work which includes economic crime, corporate crime, fraud and corruption disputes and investigations. He spent six years at the commercial bar and another six years with Simmons & Simmons before joining LG. O’Shea has led on litigation for major pharmaceutical companies relating to blackmail and other crimes.
‘Eoin’s reputation and his broad experience, across our key industry sectors and geographies, will ensure that Reed Smith is even better placed to assist clients facing the rapidly evolving regulatory landscape,’ said Richard Spafford (pictured), head of Reed Smith’s commercial disputes group for Europe and the Middle East.
‘O’Shea told Legal Business: ‘The reason I joined Reed Smith is because they are very strong in litigation worldwide. For my specialism in bribery and corruption it helps to have a strong group in the US.’
Reed Smith hired banking and finance partner Claude Brown from Clifford Chance in April this year.
Meanwhile, K&L Gates, which dropped three places in this year’s Global 100 to 25 with a turnover of $1,06bn, has added Anthony Fine as a partner in its energy, infrastructure and resources (EIR) practice in London. Fine joins from White & Case where he was head of the PPP/PFI practice in the firm’s energy, infrastructure, project and asset finance group.
‘With his track record in projects and infrastructure and his significant market connections, I am delighted that Anthony has joined our growing practice,’ said Tony Griffiths, London managing partner of K&L Gates.
Also growing in London with a number of recent heavyweight hires is RPC, which has brought in partner Sukh Ahark from Davenport Lyons, where he was head of banking and finance.
Ahark spent eight years at legacy Herbert Smith and has also worked for Pinsent Masons and Hammonds. Recent mandates he has advised on include luxury building company Harrison Varma Limited on the financing of a development of 20 new residential apartments, where the financing was provided by Barclays and Coutts.
‘We’re very pleased to have Sukh on board. His practice neatly complements our existing broad-based corporate offering, and his outgoing, unfussy and approachable style of doing business fits very well with how we operate at RPC,’ said Jonathan Watmough, managing partner of RPC.
Sukh’s appointment follows RPC’s hire of a three partner corporate team from Wragge & Co at the start of the year, consisting of former managing partner Richard Haywood, the head of corporate Maurice Dwyer, and David Marshall, a private equity specialist.
In Russia meanwhile, global top 50 US firm Dechert has recruited Taras Oksyuk from Hogan Lovells where he was head of real estate to lead the firm’s real estate and construction practice in Moscow. Deals that Oksyuk has advised on include leading Russian property fund, O1 Properties, on its $500m sale of a business centre in Moscow to Kaspersky lab.
Laura Brank, Moscow managing partner and head of Dechert’s Russia & CIS practice said: ‘We are very pleased that Taras is joining us. He is a highly regarded Russian real estate and construction expert who will bring a wealth of experience to our corporate and real estate practices in Moscow.’
david.stevenson@legalease.co.uk
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