Firms have doubled down on their recruitment efforts in the new year as the likes of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP), K&L Gates, Mishcon de Reya, Morrison & Foerster and Keystone Law all made hires.
Shakespeare Martineau, Burges Salmon, Lewis Silkin, McDermott Will & Emery, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and Squire Patton Boggs were also active in the recruitment market in the past week.
Listed-firm Keystone Law has greatly expanded its bench with the group hire of 11 senior lawyers, including seven lateral partners, from a host of firms. Nick Robertson and Clive Howard have joined as partners from Mayer Brown and Slater and Gordon respectively to build out the employment practice, while technology partner Daniel Tozer arrives from Harbottle & Lewis.
Commercial property partner Paula Abrahamian was hired from Fletcher Day, Mark Douglas arrives as a corporate and commercial partner from Hierons, Stephanie Thomas has been appointed as a dispute resolution partner from Bishop & Sewell and Hannah Cornish joins from Slater and Gordon, where she was national head of the family team.
Elsewhere, BCLP has hired construction disputes partner Shy Jackson from Pinsent Masons in London. Nathan Willmott, BCLP European leader for litigation and investigations said: ‘Shy‘s excellent reputation and particular expertise will allow us to expand existing and new client relationships, and further develop business in this space.’
Ever-mobile Mishcon has significantly strengthened its litigation practice, hiring Pinsent Masons’ former head of competition litigation, Ben Lasserson. Lasserson, who previously led antitrust specialist Strange & Butler’s London office, will join a Mishcon competition team consisting of four partners.
Morrison & Foerster has continued the growth of its real estate practice in London with the hire of partner Ed Borrini from Jones Day, while Gibson Dunn has similarly bolstered its real estate finance team with the appointment of partner Robert Carr from Herbert Smith Freehills.
Burges Salmon, meanwhile, has made a lucrative in-house hire, appointing Martin Cook, the former general counsel and company secretary of payments at WorldRemit, as the firm’s head of fintech. Cook, who has also held in-house roles at Funding Circle, Wonga Group and Royal Mail said: ‘I am hugely excited to be joining Burges Salmon’s highly regarded funds and financial regulation team. With a focus on building the firm’s fintech practice, I am looking forward to working alongside the wide range of highly experienced lawyers at Burges Salmon.’
Elsewhere, Midlands-based Shakespeare Martineau has launched a new office in Lincoln with two lateral partner hires from local firm Wilkin Chapman. Litigation partner Jonathan Stork will join on 1 February, while corporate and commercial partner Michael Squirrell has already relocated, as Shakespeare Martineau strives to meet its growth mission of doubling in size by 2023.
Lewis Silkin has also been busy bolstering its UK practice, bringing in Geraint Tilsley and Antony Craggs as corporate and intellectual property partners respectively. While Craggs is a boost to Lewis Silkin’s London contentious IP department, Tilsley will oversee the expansion of the firm’s Cardiff corporate offering.
Giles Crown, joint managing partner of Lewis Silkin, said: ‘2020 was no doubt a challenging year, but we remain resilient and quietly confident about the future. As a firm, we are determined to keep bringing in new talent in order to provide the highest level of service to our clients in our chosen sectors and markets.’
On the international front, McDermott has boosted its international antitrust team with the appointment of Hendrik Viaene as a partner to its Brussels office. Viaene joins from the legal arm of accountancy firm Deloitte, where he led its global centre of expertise in competition and regulatory law. His experience includes over 18 years at leading Benelux firm Stibbe, where he specialised in European and Belgian antitrust law, including litigation.
In Paris, K&L Gates has reinforced its contentious practice with the hire of Barthélemy Cousin from Stephenson Harwood. Cousin, who led Stephenson Harwood’s dispute resolution practice in the region, focuses on international commercial disputes in the insurance, banking, transport and energy sectors.
Cousin’s hire is the latest in a string of additions for the firm, as K&L Gates welcomed more than 30 new partners and of counsel in 2020 in a broad range of contentious and non-contentious practice areas.
Finally, Squire Patton Boggs has added to its life sciences expertise in Frankfurt with the appointment of Rüdiger Herrmann as a partner. Herrmann is joined by director Jochen Eimer, both of whom join from McDermott.
