It’s been a busy week for London laterals, as firms have bolstered their transactional and regulatory teams.
King & Spalding has strengthened its London corporate, finance and investments practice with the additions of Amit Kataria from Morrison & Foerster and private equity partner Paul Barron, a rare departure from Scottish corporate firm Dickson Minto. This continued the firm’s push to boost its City transactional practice following the hires of energy sector partner Nina Howell and finance partners Richard Kitchen and Amin Doulai from Paul Hastings in August.
Todd Holleman, head of the firm’s corporate, finance and investment practice, told Legal Business: ‘These hires follow a theme; we are adding people who are known to us and our clients and who we think will integrate well into what we’re trying to do on a global basis.’
Of Kataria’s arrival he added: ‘Amit is a super-talented lawyer and not only is he well integrated into the London market and with the New York market, but also in Asia and the Middle East. So, if you look at our footprint and what he does, he is a really good connector.’
Meanwhile, Baker McKenzie has recruited its new head of data from Taylor Wessing. Vinod Bange, who is described as a ‘long-standing recognised leader in data privacy and regulatory matters’ by The Legal 500, brings a breadth of experience in data advisory, compliance and investigations and previously led Taylor Wessing’s data and cyber team and co-chaired its 29- office international tech and data practice.
Elsewhere, Addleshaw Goddard had a busy week of recruitment, adding two in the City. James Greig joined from Barclays Bank, where he led the regulatory relations and regulatory policy team, and adds over three decades of experience within the wholesale financial services market while Marton Eorsi joined its corporate energy practice from Allen & Overy, where he was a senior associate.
Chris Taylor, head of UK M&A at Addleshaw, said: ‘Marton is an excellent, highly regarded lawyer with a real passion for the work he does and he will be a great addition to our corporate energy team. The global energy transition is a huge focus for our clients and Marton’s experience of working closely with financial investors on energy and infrastructure projects fits perfectly within our wider energy group in both corporate and IPE.’
Macfarlanes also bolstered its financial regulatory capabilities this week with the addition of Michael Sholem from Cadwalader. Sholem has a breadth of experience acting for banks, fund managers and financial technology firms and counts ESG and cryptocurrency among his areas of interest.
Staying on the theme of financial regulation, Eversheds Sutherland has hired Martin Sandler. Sandler has expertise in the regulation of asset management, banking, wholesale markets, transactions and markets infrastructure. He spent time in-house, including at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, as well as in private practice at Bird & Bird and Berwin Leighton Paisner, before joining PwC, where he headed the financial services regulation team, and most recently moving to big four competitor EY.
Elsewhere, corporate and M&A partner Garrett Hayes has joined McDermott Will & Emery from Paul Hastings. He has experience in cross-border and domestic M&A, corporate advisory and private equity mandates and recently advised BaseCamp Group on the €939m sale of a portfolio of 11 private student and residential accommodation assets to Xior Student Housing.
Morgan Lewis has added tax partner Todd Smith in London. Smith joined from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and will advise on US and international tax matters. The firm also hired litigation partner Pardeep Khosa in Singapore this week, strengthening its commercial litigation and international arbitration, corporate crime and investigations capabilities.
Also in Asia, Slaughter and May has hired Ralph Sellar in Hong Kong, adding experience in commercial and financial services disputes and regulatory matters, while Reed Smith has recruited TMT sector corporate partner Barbara Li Beijing. Sellar and Li joined from Debevoise and Chinese law firm Rui Bai, respectively.
Continuing a string of recent hires from international firms in Madrid, White & Case launched its commercial litigation practice with the arrival of Francisco Malaga from Linklaters. This follows the recruitment of debt finance partner Jaime Rossi from Herbert Smith Freehills last month.
Squire Patton Boggs has also targeted the Spanish market with the addition of competition and antitrust partner Gorka Navea, who will split his time between the Madrid and Brussels offices. Of his arrival Diarmuid Ryan, global chair of the firm’s competition and antitrust practice, said: ‘Gorka will now be an invaluable part of our Madrid team, working closely with our booming corporate practice and our Spanish and international clients to deliver the investment and merger opportunities they are pursuing. With the long-term trend of increasing scrutiny and enforcement by competition authorities, our clients will benefit enormously from our having a stronger competition law offering in Brussels and in Spain.’
