A raft of European hires for US and transatlantic firms has seen Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and K&L Gates bolster their finance and corporate capability on the Continent as Paul Hastings and Squire Sanders draw in strategic senior recruits in the City.
K&L Gates has brought in King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin’s (KWMSJB’s) Berlin-based head of financial markets, Till Fock, who was also a member of the Sino-Australian-UK firm’s management team.
Fock began his career in the tax department at PricewaterhouseCoopers before joining SJ Berwin in 2001, becoming a partner in 2004. He focuses on the structuring of investment wealth with a particular focus on the implementation of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive.
‘With Till’s arrival, K&L Gates expands our investment management group in Europe, and offers our clients even greater global solutions in this area,’ said Rüdiger von Hülst, administrative partner of the firm’s German offices.
K&L Gates also bolstered its Paris offering with the hire of corporate partner Nicola Di Giovanni from Baker & McKenzie, where has been a partner since 2011, before which he was a partner in the Paris and London offices of Linklaters.
Di Giovanni focuses on corporate matters including mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, management packages, and bankruptcy and restructuring.
‘We are delighted to welcome such a dynamic and client-focused lawyer as Nicola Di Giovanni. He has a broad transactional experience and his recruitment strengthens and reinforces our corporate offering,’ said Louis Degos, administrative partner of the firm’s Paris office.
Also on the Continent, Skadden has hired Siemens’ chief litigation counsel Anke Sessler to join its Frankfurt office.
Sessler, who before joining Siemens was a partner at Clifford Chance, is also an experienced arbitrator and has served on various arbitration related institutions such as the DIS Advisory Board, ICC Commission on Arbitration and the ICC National Committee Germany.
‘Due to client demand we are adding another dimension to our German practice. Anke’s experience in dispute resolution complements our corporate practice in Germany and also enhances our European arbitration and litigation practice, led from London,’ said Eric Friedman, executive partner of the Wall Street giant.
In the City, Paul Hastings has taken financial services and transactional partner Ben Regnard-Weinrabe from Mayer Brown. He will join the Los Angeles-founded firm’s London office on 9 June, specialising in financial services regulation, commercial contracts and transactional work for the commercial and retail banking, consumer finance, and e-money and payment industries.
‘As we continue to strengthen and diversify our London offering, attracting a partner of Ben’s reputation and experience to lead our technology and payments practice is extremely important for us,’ said London office chair, Ronan O’Sullivan.
Also in London, global top 40 firm Squire Sanders has bolstered its real estate practice with the arrival of DLA Piper’s former City-based real estate head, Gary Paddison. Paddison’s clients include The Tonstate Group, Trenport Investments, a number of UK clearing banks including Close Brothers, RBS and Titlestone Property Lending.
‘Gary is a very experienced property transaction and real estate finance lawyer, whose combination of legal expertise and business acumen will add considerably to what we are already providing clients within London and the UK,’ said John Thomas, global leader of the firm’s real estate group.
Paddison is the seventh hire to join Squire Sanders as partner in London so far this year, following real estate colleague Rachel Orton from DLA Piper, real estate litigation partner Alison Hardy from Wragge & Co, data protection lawyer Mark Gleeson from Addleshaw Goddard, competition partner Martin Rees from DLA Piper, and employment law partner Fraser Younson and China outbound and inbound corporate lawyer Michelle Chen, both from Berwin Leighton Paisner.
david.stevenson@legalease.co.uk
