Last week was a busy one for lateral hires, with a mix of City, regional and international firms announcing their newly acquired partners.
In New York, Allen & Overy lost partner Greg Lavigne to Sidley, who joined its energy, transportation and infrastructure group.
Vinson & Elkins has hired Milbank’s Kilian de Cintré as a partner into its corporate and finance practice in London, the firm announced today (13 November).
The move builds on the hire last month of energy and infrastructure finance partner Chris Taufatofua, also from Milbank, to its corporate and finance practice in London.
Allen & Overy has confirmed that it has suffered a ‘data incident’. Posts from X user and self-described ‘threat intelligence platform for cybersecurity’ @FalconFeedsio on Wednesday 8 November suggested that cybercriminal group LockBit had targeted the firm, with a threat to release ‘all available data’ by 28 November.
‘We have experienced a data incident impacting a small number of storage servers’, said an A&O spokesperson. ‘Investigations to date have confirmed that data in our core systems, including our email and document management system, has not been affected.
The biggest European transaction of recent weeks came when Vodafone announced the sale of its Spanish business to TMT investor Zegona Communications for €5bn.
Slaughter and May advised Vodafone with a London-based team led by corporate partners Victoria MacDuff and James Cook and including IP and IT partner Duncan Blaikie, finance partner Charlie McGarel-Groves, tax partner Mike Lane, employment partner Philippa O’Malley, and competition partner Claire Jeffs, who splits her time between London and Brussels.
Ahead of our annual Global 100 report in our November/December issue, firms have made concerted efforts to consolidate and expand in the Middle East and Asia in recent months.
Bird & Bird has announced a new office in Shenzhen, to be led by the firm’s Greater China intellectual property practice co-head Hank Leung, a Legal 500 leading individual for IP in Hong Kong. The new office will work closely with lawyers from the firm’s international network, including its offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.
Travers Smith today (6 November) announced the election of Andrew Gillen as senior partner.
With a term commencing on 1 January 2024, Gillen will succeed acting senior partner Siân Keall, who has been in the role, first in a part-time capacity since January 2023, and then full-time since 30 June following Kathleen Russ’s decision to step down from the role. Keall will remain a member of the firm’s partnership board until the end of her final term in June 2024.
Mayer Brown has hired Daniel Vowden as a partner into its antitrust and competition practice in London, the firm announced today (6 November).
Vowden, who was previously a partner in Herbert Smith Freehills’ Brussels office, will concentrate on advising international clients on a broad array of EU and UK competition law matters, encompassing merger control, foreign direct investment regulations, and cross-border deals requiring regulatory approval.
Kirkland & Ellis has opened an office in Riyadh and recruited two new partners. Noor Al-Fawzan, specialising in M&A and corporate affairs, and Manal Al-Musharaf, focusing on capital markets, have transitioned from Latham & Watkins and White & Case, respectively, to join the 20th global office of the Chicago giant. Kirkland partner Kamran Bajwa, who has overseen the firm’s Middle East operations since 2011, will lead the new Riyadh office, serving as its headquarters for the Middle East.
McDermott has strengthened its finance practice in Germany by recruiting partner Matthias Weissinger from Ashurst in Munich. Weissinger’s extensive expertise includes advising sponsors, debt funds, national and international financial institutions, and corporate clients on various financings, corporate loans, and complex restructuring and insolvency proceedings.
In what is perhaps an early bellwether of 2023 financial performance for the market at large, or a hangover from the second half of 2022, Baker McKenzie has released its financial results following its year end on 30 June, reporting a revenue of $3.3bn, the same as 2021/22, when turnover increased by 6%.
The firm’s net income has also stayed the same as the previous year at $1.2bn.
Axiom Ince has filed documents with the High Court to appoint Neil Bennett, Alex Cadwallader and Andrew Poxon of Leonard Curtis as joint administrators. They will be responsible for closing the firm’s business, realising its assets, and reporting to its creditors.
The joint administrators will operate separately from intervening agents Gordons, Shakespeare Martineau and Stephensons, who will continue to deal with the client affairs of Axiom Ince.
