Lateral hires in London and Germany were the order of last week, with KPMG bolstering its City legal services bench, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe hiring a London-based energy and infrastructure partner, while Ashurst and Allen & Overy recruited practice heads in Germany.
Big Four accountancy firm KPMG has hired partners Kate Eades from Greenberg Traurig and Usman Wahid from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner in a further boon to its legal services capabilities.
Corporate partner Eades’ experience includes advising on mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and joint ventures while Wahid is a commercial and technology partner focusing on IT/technology and outsourcing transactions. He has acted for clients on business critical software, new and disruptive technology as well as infrastructure deals.
UK head of Legal Services at KPMG Nick Roome (pictured) commented: ‘Our clients need the best expertise when they look to KPMG for support with business reorganisations, deals and other complex transactions, which is why we’ve brought in Kate and Usman. Their knowledge and skills will considerably strengthen the depth of our capabilities in this area and further enhance our ability to support KPMG clients with the challenges they face.’
The appointments follow that of Peter Workman in March who joined from PwC and leads the Midlands legal services hub and Angela Savin, who joined the legal service’s tax litigation team as partner from Norton Rose Fulbright in January.
Elsewhere in London, US firm Orrick has hired as a partner former Herbert Smith Freehills energy and infrastructure senior associate Hannah Roscoe.
Roscoe is experienced in global transactional and regulatory matters including project developments, financings and mergers and acquisitions.
Global head of Orrick’s energy and infrastructure group Blake Winburne told Legal Business: ‘Our strategy is to look at the opportunities that present themselves to us in Europe for transactions as well as opportunities that are available from that platform into developing markets around the world. Hannah is going to be an important member for us, particularly on the power regulatory side but also more broadly in the power sector as well as the infrastructure side.’
Macfarlanes is set to lose senior adviser and head of digital and innovation Mike Rebeiro after 18 months. He led an initiative introduced last year to develop the firm’s digital and innovation capability. The firm said Rebeiro will not be replaced, instead a number of partners from across the firm will be moving the initiative forward.
A spokesperson for Macfarlanes said: ‘Mike has led our team to a successful conclusion of our project and we believe we are now uniquely placed to advise our clients in all sectors on the disruptive effects of new technologies. We wish Mike every success in his future endeavours and thank him for the contribution he has made to Macfarlanes.’
Meanwhile in Germany, Ashurst has hired former Shearman & Sterling tax lawyer Anders Kraft to its Frankfurt office as head of tax.
Kraft has experience in national and international tax advice, capital markets transactions, internal corporate restructurings as well as general tax planning and tax disputes. He acts for domestic and international corporate clients, private equity firms, banks and financial services providers.
Managing partner of Ashurst in Germany Tobias Krug commented: ‘Anders is highly experienced in advising on the tax aspects of domestic and international real estate, private equity and corporate transactions and he is a perfectly complement to the European and German tax team.
He added: ‘Ashurst is already ideally positioned in these areas and Anders will make a significant contribution and help us deliver even more for our clients.’
Also in Germany A&O has hired Osborne Clarke data protection expert Ulrich Baumgartner to its Munich office as head of the data protection team in Germany.
Baumgartner focuses on German and European data protection law as well as cloud and IT law. He will work closely with the firm’s IP/tech team.
Senior partner of Allen & Overy in Germany Thomas Ubber commented: ‘Client demand for advice in the field of data and data protection has grown strongly in the wake of various new laws and increased digitalisation and use of technology.
‘With Ulrich, we now have the necessary enhancement at partner level and at the same time further develop our global consulting practice on cloud-based business models.’ Ubber added.
Finally, in Singapore, HFW has added dry shipping expert Christopher Metcalf to its growing shipping practice. Metcalf, who joins from Clyde & Co, has acted for vessel owners, charterers, offshore service contractors, oil majors, mining companies and traders in contentious and non-contentious matters in the shipping, offshore and oil and gas sectors.
In the last five months, HFW has added eight shipping experts globally including shipbroker Chris Jones and an Ince shipping team, which launched the firm’s Monaco office earlier this month.