Mayer Brown has strengthened its London tax practice with the addition of tax partner Sam Riesenberg. US-qualified Riesenberg has joined the firm’s City base from KPMG in Washington, where he worked within the firm’s national tax practice. His hire bolsters Mayer Brown’s international tax offering across the asset management and funds sectors as he has significant experience in the space, working with clients including fund sponsors, sovereign wealth and pension funds, institutional investors, family offices and fund managers.
His hire is Mayer Brown’s second into its London tax practice this year, following closely on the heels of real estate investment specialist Ben Eaton’s appointment hire in January this year.
Dominic Griffiths, Mayer Brown’s London managing partner said: ‘Sam brings significant experience and expertise in funds and asset management across a wide range of products and activities, and will be an asset to our existing funds, corporate and finance practices. Having a US qualified, international tax expert in our London office adds significant bench strength to our practice.’
Also expanding its global tax practice this month, BCLP has appointed Kyle O’Sullivan as partner in its global tax advice and controversy team in London. O’Sullivan, previously an associate at Slaughter and May, brings expertise across matters including public and private M&A, group reorganisations, corporate financing, and IP-related agreements. He has particular expertise in the energy sector, having recently gone on secondment to Vitol.
Looking outside the UK, Charles Russell Speechlys has significantly ramped up its recently established Singapore arm through the addition of a new tax team. The team comprises partners Kurt G. Rademacher and Ivan Lu, legal director Timmoney Ng, and senior associate Hara Kee. Rademacher is recognised for his expertise in international wealth transfer planning, while Lu brings extensive experience representing US-connected families in the Greater China region and Southeast Asia.
The firm has also added Peter Brabant as an International arbitration and investigations partner in Singapore. With 15 years’ Asia-Pacific experience, Brabant enhances the office’s disputes team, focusing on international construction and energy disputes, and investor-state arbitrations.
CRS has committed to international expansion, with Asia in particular earmarked for expansion. The firm wants to increase non-UK revenues to 50% within the next five years, a goal set following the establishment of its Singapore office last year.
Meanwhile back in the UK, Burges Salmon is to strengthen its pensions and lifetime savings teams with the addition of partners Steven Hull and Chris Brown. Hull is set to join the firm in London from Eversheds on 1 May, bringing more than three decades of experience advising trustees and employers on pensions law. His hire coincides with the promotion of Brown to the partnership. Brown, who joined Burges Salmon as a trainee in 2009, has advised on high-profile anti-avoidance cases and has a growing focus on the impact of AI in this field.
Brown’s promotion comes as part of the firm’s wider new partner promotion round in Bristol, with four others making the grade: Ros Harris in real estate; Tim Williams in tax, trusts and family; Caroline Brown in dispute resolution, and Lydia Cullimore in projects.
Linklaters has also joined the roster of firms announcing new partner promotions, adding 27 new partners across 11 practice groups worldwide, from 1 May. Fourteen of these promotions are in London, including the appointment of Shilpa Bhandarkar, who is co-head of client solutions & innovation and co-chair of the Gen-AI Steering Group.
The promotions are significantly down on last year, when 41 new partners were made up, including 16 in London. While the number of new promotions is down, the firm has met its annual target of 40% female new partner elections and 15% ethnic minority in the UK and US.
Separately, Linklaters has appointed Bernd Meyring, a partner in the Brussels office, as the new global head of antitrust & foreign investment. Meyring’s experience includes advising major corporations, banks, and institutions on competition and foreign investment laws, particularly in merger and anti-cartel proceedings before the European Commission and national authorities, as well as handling unilateral conduct and state aid matters.
Meanwhile, Fieldfisher has announced a larger new partner promotion round than last year, making up ten lawyers to partnership – a 25% increase on last year’s eight-strong round. Effective 1 April, the promotions span the firm’s Dublin, Silicon Valley, and London offices, with eight of the appointments in London.
