In a muted week for the City recruitment market, Taylor Wessing made the only noteworthy London hire while Clyde & Co focused its attention on its Manchester office, revisiting Keogh for another lateral.
Taylor Wessing hired City real estate lawyer Matthew Swainston from Forsters where he was a partner for more than 14 years.
Swainston advises on complex commercial real estate projects, development and investment work, as well as joint ventures and landlord and tenant transactions for UK and international clients. He has acted for institutional investors including domestic and overseas investors, property companies, financial institutions, government bodies, banks and occupational tenants.
Taylor Wessing’s head of real estate Keith Barnett told Legal Business: ‘Swainston has a great reputation and network. He operates in many of the markets that we do, particularly in the development and investment sphere. He brings to us some institutional clients which is part of our business and in return we give him first class support in complementary areas, particular finance, private wealth as well as corporate support plus access to an international network.
‘In pure real estate terms we are looking for the Conservative government to deliver on its promises to free the reins in terms of planning and make it a more simplified process to obtain planning and drive development. We also see a weight of international money which regards London as transparent, reliable and cheap because our currency is low at the moment. The key is being able to find the stock to satisfy that international demand,’ added Barnett.
Meanwhile in Manchester, Clydes hired Melanie Mooney from Keoghs to its global insurance practice.
She will be part of the firm’s defendant motor team, working on catastrophic injury and major bodily injury matters. At Keoghs Mooney led a team of 200 in the defence of complex and high-value credit hire claims. She also has experience in representing clients in the Court of Appeal winning cases in catastrophic injury and major bodily injury matters.
Partner Mark Hemsted commented: ‘Melanie has built up an exceptional track record and reputation in credit hire over the last 20 years. Her arrival will boost our expertise in credit hire – a significant and growing area of concern for motor insurers – and will dovetail with our existing motor insurance capabilities. Through Melanie’s expertise, we will be able to offer an even more complete service to motor insurers.’
Last year Clydes re-hired partner Estelle Machell to its casualty insurance team in Manchester six years after she left the firm for Keoghs.
Elsewhere, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer added litigation partner Nathalie Colin from White & Case to its global dispute resolution practice in Brussels.
Colin has over 25 years’ experience in commercial and corporate litigation and advises corporate and private equity firms and financial institutions in cross-border and domestic disputes, white collar crime and regulatory investigations. She is bringing two associates with her from White & Case.
Vincent Macq, managing partner of Freshfields’ Brussels office, commented: ‘Litigation is one of the key pillars of our business. Nathalie, Alexandre, and Nino bring substantial litigation experience to the firm, further strengthening our capabilities as a strategic advisor to our clients in Europe and globally. These important hires build on our success in the Belgian market and strategically enhance our Belgian offering, especially as we look to advise clients involved in increasingly sophisticated and complex disputes, investigations and arbitration cases.’
Finally, McDermott Will & Emery added partner David Revcolevschi from Paul Hastings to its corporate team in Paris.
Revcolevschi advises on capital markets and M&A transactions in France and aboard as well as cross boarder transaction with a focus on securities offerings, banks and shareholders.
Managing partner of the Paris office Gregoire Andrieux commented: ‘David’s reputation in capital markets brings our clients a new depth of experience on our corporate M&A team, complementing our industry-leading private equity and industrial M&A practices. His sector-based approach, particularly in health and technology, also aligns with our development strategy.’