Last week saw Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) and Duane Morris grow their capital markets and employment teams in the City respectively, while Eversheds looked north of the border with an addition in its Edinburgh office. Meanwhile, Dentons hired a 5-lawyer team from Dechert in Paris.
As the debt markets continue to be busy for most firms, NRF boosted its London offering with the hire of capital markets partner Daniel Franks from Fieldfisher. The move is a significant boost for Franks who joins the top ten LB100 firm and will help expand the practice’s transactional offering in derivatives. He will also work closely with the regulatory practice to assist financial institutions in navigating the sector’s growing rule book.
Franks comes with experience of advising on structured derivative products, structured finance and securitisation matters. He joined Fieldfisher (then Field Fisher Waterhouse) in April 2012 after being counsel at Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy, where he gained experience in advising on privately negotiated derivatives.
‘Consistent with derivatives being so widely used in business and finance, derivatives transactional and advisory capabilities are an essential part of our global practice,’ said Jeremy Edwards, global head of banking and finance at Norton Rose Fulbright. ‘Daniel’s arrival will further enhance our offering to clients in transactions, particularly in financial institutions, infrastructure, mining and commodities, energy and transport.’
Also in the City, Duane Morris made an important hire, bringing in Elena Cooper to build its employment, labour, benefits and immigration group, by heading the employment practice in London. Part of her role, will see her strengthen the firm’s international capabilities, and also expand the Duane Morris Institute (DMi), which runs training workshops focused on employment, benefits and immigration issues, into London.
She joins from Fasken Martineau, before which she was a senior associate at Dundas & Wilson from October 2006 to March 2012. She has experience of advising clients on transactional, contentious and HR issues with a particular focus in financial services, hotel and leisure, media, oil and gas, construction, IT and transport.
Meanwhile, in Paris Dentons hired two partners from Dechert along with a team of three associates as it sought to boost its life sciences practice. Both Olivia Guéguen and Anne-Laure Marcerou are partners with experience handling life sciences M&A and both have followed the same career path to date having started at Archibald Andersen, moving on to the Paris office of Coudert Brothers, and then joining Dechert in 2005.
Tomasz Dabrowski, Dentons chief executive Europe commented: ‘Their arrival further bolsters our presence in the life sciences field in Europe which is of strategic importance to the Firm.’
In the UK again, but out of the City, Eversheds grew its Edinburgh office with Hazel Tait joining as partner in the real estate team. Tait joins from Gillespie MacAndrew and advises on all aspects of property law but specialising in clean energy. She has experience in acting for both developer and landowner clients and has been involved in large and small scale energy projects in development and construction.
Before her career in private practice at Gillespie MacAndrew, Tait worked in house at Scottish & Southern Energy. Previously, she negotiated the final suites of property agreements arising from successful bids including transferring offshore transmission assets. In addition, she has covered the submission of bids for large scale clean energy schemes.
‘Hazel’s strong technical ability will make her a valuable member of the team as we continue to capitalise on Scotland’s buoyant real estate market,’ said David Watkins, head of real estate at Eversheds.
jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk
