Both LB100 and Global 100 firms made senior appointments last week, bringing in both current and former team heads to bolster their offerings. Eversheds hired TLT’s head of financial regulation while Reed Smith took on DLA Piper’s Singapore head of restructuring and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher hired Weil, Gotshal & Manges’ former US private funds co-head. Meanwhile, Stevens & Bolton hired Charles Russell Speechley partner Stephen Rockhill as it focused on its construction practice.
Last week, Eversheds bolstered its commercial practice with TLT partner and head of its financial regulation practice, Clare Hughes. She is recommended in The Legal 500 for banking litigation and covers compliance with the Consumer Credit Act as well as working on portfolio sales.
Before joining TLT in 2012, Hughes worked in McClure Naismith’s London office and has previously been at Addleshaw Goddard and the Office of Fair Trading
Meanwhile, Guildford-based firm Stevens & Bolton attracted Charles Russell Speechlys’ partner, Stephen Rockhill, to join its construction and engineering practice. Having initially trained and worked as a chartered engineer for over 20 years, Rockhill moved into law in 2001, qualifying at Charles Russell in 2003 and making partner in 2011. He covers both contentious and non-contentious construction work for both corporate clients and ultra-high net worth individuals.
The firm’s managing partner Ken Woffenden said: ‘[Rockhill’s] ability to see projects from both a legal and construction perspective is invaluable in helping clients get things done. We believe it is rare to find a construction and engineering team where both leading practitioners are dual qualified and can really “speak the industry language” as Matthew and Stephen do. This will add real value to our clients.’
On the international stage, Reed Smith brought in the head of DLA Piper’s Asia restructuring and distressed investment team, Troy Doyle. Based in Singapore, Doyle has experience both of financial and corporate restructurings, as well as distressed M&A and debt trading and insolvencies.
He joined DLA Piper in 2011 from Norton Rose Australia and has previously led Clifford Chance’s restructuring practice for South East Asia. Tamara Box, global chair of the Financial Industry Group said: ‘Distressed investments and debt trading, particularly in non-performing loan transactions across both Europe and Asia, remains extremely active. With Troy in the team, we can provide clients with an even broader service in this area.’
Alongside Doyle, Reed Smith also built out its Singapore offering with the hire of Gerald Licnachan, general counsel of Steppe Capital, as counsel.
In New York, Shukie Grossman made the move from Weil, Gotshal & Manges to Gibson Dunn to act as co-chair of that firm’s investment funds practice group. Previously co-head of Weil’s US private funds group, Grossman was at the firm for 15 years having joined in 2000 from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
Ken Doran, chairman and managing partner of Gibson Dunn said: ‘He has 20 years of experience in private practice and at the SEC’s Investment Management Group. He has a stellar reputation in the fund sponsor community and in the overall private equity sector, and our lawyers have known him for many years. His arrival continues our growth in this area, following the significant private equity additions in our London office.’
michael.west@legalease.co.uk