In another muted patch for City laterals, Simmons & Simmons and CMS were the only firms to hire in London last week as Gibson Dunn & Crutcher recruited to its employment bench and HFW hired in Hong Kong.
Simmons has added to its international banking practice with the hire of Kirsty Barnes, Gowling WLG’s head of banking and finance in the UK.
With 20 years’ experience in the financial markets sectors Barnes has experience in leveraged and acquisition finance, real estate finance and corporate lending transactions.
Head of Simmons’ banking group Peter Manning told Legal Business: ‘Kirsty has done work for Barclays, Lloyds and RBS. She does work for a couple of private equity style funds and has done some leveraged finance work. All of those were really important for us. We thought she would be a good personality and cultural fit for us.
‘She’s very keen to move the practice forward and shares our vision on what that means. We remain committed to doing work for the traditional clearing banks as well as credit funds and the alternative lenders. We’re very much committed to changing the way we deliver our services,’ Manning added.
Meanwhile, CMS has hired pensions partner Tim Green from DWF where he was the national head of its pensions teams.
Green advises trustees, sponsors, government bodies and providers in all aspects of pensions law with particular expertise in retail, energy, nuclear, transport, public and charitable sectors.
Head of pensions at CMS Mark Grant told Legal Business: ‘Tim’s got a great track record of building a practice. We’re in growth mode and this is part of our national growth story. We’ve grown by 30% in pensions in the last two years and this is a continuation of that.’
Elsewhere, Gibson Dunn has hired Ashurst’s Paris former employment head Nataline Fleury to back its European strategy.
Fleury has a particular focus on employment law issues affecting restructuring transactions, acquisitions and disposals. Fleury will be joined by associates Claire-Marie Hincelin and Charline Cosmao, also from Ashurst.
Chairman and managing partner Ken Doran commented: ‘Nataline has strong credentials and is very well regarded in the legal and business communities. We know her well as we have partnered with her on several client matters over the past year. She is the perfect person to lead our effort to add a labour and employment capability to our thriving Paris office.’
Finally, HFW has hired senior corporate finance partner Wing Cheung in Hong Kong. He has defected from Locke Lord where he was the Hong Kong managing partner.
Cheung specialises in capital markets, M&A, private equity and other transactional work. He advises clients on corporate and commercial matters, including initial public offerings and M&A and has experience in regulatory enforcement and compliance.
Cheung’s hire is part of HFW’s expansion of its global corporate and finance practices. Earlier this year the firm launched a transactional practice in China and made hires including lateral hires in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Hong Kong office head Patrick Yeung said: ‘This is a major boost to our transactional offering in Greater China and the wider region. Wing brings a wealth of experience of high-end corporate finance, and has an outstanding reputation for his technical expertise and exceptional client service.’