In the most notable London lateral move of recent weeks, Latham & Watkins bolstered its banking and finance practice with its hire of partners Jonathan Brownson, Joydeep Choudhuri, and Prue Criddle from New York banking heavyweight Cahill Gordon & Reindel’s City office.
Mishcon de Reya’s head of international arbitration Louis Flannery KC has left the firm, and is set to join Littleton Chambers in August as a silk in the set’s international arbitration team.
Earlier this month McDermott Will & Emery announced that leveraged finance partner Aymen Mahmoud will take the reins from Hamid Yunis as managing partner of the US firm’s London office.
Mahmoud (pictured), who has been at the firm since 2020 after joining from Willkie Farr & Gallagher, will take the helm on 1 June, while also continuing as co-head of the firm’s London transactions group and the finance, restructuring, and special situations group.
Kirkland & Ellis, Paul Weiss and Slaughter and May are advising on the proposed takeover of the Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distributions Service (IDS), by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.
For Mental Health Awareness Week, Samantha Brown, partner and regional head of Herbert Smith Freehill’s employment, pensions, and incentives group, spoke to LB about her own experiences with anxiety and depression, lessons from returning to work after taking time off, and how attitudes and language around mental health have changed for the better
For Mental Health Awareness Week, Vinson & Elkins London managing partner Nick Henchie talked to LB about recognising mental health issues, seeking support, the importance of openness and honesty, and supporting the next generation of lawyers facing similar challenges
Bird & Bird has announced it will open in Tokyo before the end of the year, with the new base set to be led by corporate partner Hiro Iwamura, who is joining from Ashurst.
The launch marks the first significant move for the firm since February’s unveiling of its new five-year strategy – which includes the ambitious goal of reaching €1bn in revenue within the next half-decade.
In another blow for Travers Smith, respected corporate M&A and ECM partner Richard Spedding has left to join Linklaters, on the back of the departure of a private equity duo to Goodwin late last month.
A Legal 500 Hall of Famer for small to mid-cap equity capital markets, Spedding was at Travers or 25 years. Experienced in public M&A and the UK Takeover Code, Spedding recently co-led the firm’s team advising key private equity client Inflexion on its £342m takeover of DWF.
Legal 500 Hall of Famer Satnam Tumani, previously head of the SFO’s anti-corruption and bribery unit and a longstanding partner at Kirkland & Ellis, recently moved to boutique firm Edmonds Marshall McMahon. He spoke to LB about his brief to build a new practice, the contrasts between Big Law and boutique law, and his nostalgia for the days of letter-writing
Keystone Law has released its financial results for 2023-24, posting a 15.1% revenue boost to reach £87.9m.
The results, which cover the financial year to 31 January 2024, come after a sustained period of recruitment for the firm, which is continuing to sign up lawyers attracted to its non-traditional, decentralised model.
