The New Year often focuses minds on the greener pastures a new job might bring, and so it has proven with last week’s round of lateral moves.
Mishcon de Reya, Hogan Lovells, Dentons, and King & Spalding have all kicked off 2018 with partner hires, following a strong end to last year’s recruitment market.
At the start of the week (2 January), Mishcon de Reya brought in Guy Wilkes, formerly of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and more recently a partner at Mayer Brown, as a contentious regulatory partner.
The firm’s head of its contentious regulatory practice, Adam Epstein, said Wilkes’ seven years at the FCA would be valuable as it looked to develop its regulatory practice: ‘His knowledge of regulatory issues from the other side of the fence complements and enhances our growing practice.’
Later in the week, Norton Rose Fulbright lost two partners to different firms in South Africa and The Netherlands.
Hogan Lovells added Christine Rodrigues as a partner in its Johannesburg finance practice, while Dentons Boekel hired Jan Jakob Peelen in Amsterdam.
Rodrigues has more than 15 years’ experience in insurance and served as a director at Norton Rose Fulbright since 2013, and is Hogan Lovells’ fourth lateral hire in South Africa in the last eight months.
Group global head of finance Sharon Lewis commented: ‘We see exciting potential for growth across southern Africa, particularly in the insurance sector, and Christine’s experience within the industry will add significantly to our practice.’
Peelen, meanwhile, was recruited by Dentons’ Dutch arm to its energy practice having previously advised on major energy and infrastructure projects and public-private partnerships (PPPs) involving wind farms, power plants and roads.
The move follows investment in other parts of Dentons’ European energy group, including Daniel Vázquez in Spain, Otar Kipshidze in Georgia, Eldor Mannopov in Uzbekistan, Petr Zakoucký in Prague, and Louis Skyner in the CIS region.
Elsewhere, Clyde & Co recruited two partners from Hinshaw & Culbertson as part of the hire of a ten-lawyer insurance team in Miami.
Sina Bahadoran and Eric Hiller come to the firm with their team to the city where Clyde & Co first opened in early 2016 following a merger with Thornton Davis Fein. This latest move followed the hiring of a 15-partner insurance and litigation team from Sedgwick in Miami last December.
Clyde & Co Miami managing partner Barry Davis said Bahadoran, who was a member of her previous firm’s executive committee, had built a very successful insurance practice: ‘The team’s reputation, combined with Clyde & Co’s national insurance practice and unrivalled global reach, provide significant potential for growth.’
Senior partner Simon Konsta added the hires would provide the Miami bench with extra strength as the firm looked to bolster its US practice, where it has more than 60 partners across more than 10 offices.
Finally, King & Spalding hired World Trade Organization (WTO) senior litigator Rambod Behboodi as a partner in Geneva, where he joined the firm’s international trade practice. Behboodi has more than 20 years of experience working in a number of different litigation, diplomatic, legal advisory and policy and executive positions. He most recently served as a counsellor in the WTO Rules Division, which handles all litigation concerning trade remedies.