Office launches follow team hire from Troutman earlier this year
Clyde & Co continues to look for opportunities to expand in the US following the opening of new Chicago and Washington DC offices, after taking on a team of ten lawyers from Global 100 firm Troutman Sanders at the end of January.
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Homebase has hired its first legal head, as Clyde & Co, Dentons and Pinsent Masons all make international appointments.
Simone Tudor becomes Homebase’s first dedicated head of legal after joining from retail group AS Watson. Homebase is currently in the process of becoming Bunnings UK & Ireland, with the new company completing its first panel review in November 2016. Herbert Smith Freehills and Dentons were among the firms that made the cut for the company’s inaugural roster.
Clyde & Co has added to its four-partner Dubai shipping practice with the addition of corporate and finance partner Ian Chung. Chung has worked in the Middle East since 2008 where he specialises in corporate and finance work in the international trade, maritime and oilfield services sectors. He joins from Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) in Dubai where he was a partner.
In Europe, both Dentons and Pinsents have improved their German offerings. Pinsents has made a trio of appointments, hiring Alexander Bayer, Peter Koch and Jörg Khöber to bolster its Munich office.
All three of the new recruits join from Gowling WLG, with Bayer arriving as an intellectual property (IP) partner specialising in fintech. Koch joins as a legal director, with a background in cross border patent litigation. Khöber joins as a senior associate.
Pinsents partner and head of German operations, Rainer Kreifels, commented: ‘Our depth of sector expertise has been a major driver of our success and bringing Alexander, Peter and Jörg onto the team continues to strengthen our presence in the market.’
Dentons has strengthened its German team with the appointments of Stefan Dittmer and Amy Kläsener as partners. Dittmer, formerly of Baker & McKenzie and DLA Piper, joins Dentons’ IP and technology practice in Berlin with experience in competition law, licensing law and press law.
Kläsener, who joins from Shearman & Sterling, reinforces Dentons’ international arbitration practice in Frankfurt. Kläsener has expertise in cross-border arbitrations, in addition to a specialism in engineering and construction.
tom.baker@legalease.co.uk
Clyde & Co has strengthened its London office with a new recruit, as Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), Bird & Bird, Sidley Austin and Barclays all secure new talent.
David Hansom joins Clydes as partner from Veale Wasbrough Vizards, where he was national head of its public sector team. Hansom has expertise in procurement law, offering over 15 years’ experience and specialisms in the transport, energy, education, health, technology and waste sectors.
Clydes projects and construction partner Liz Jenkins said: ‘Procurement law has grown significantly in the UK over the past 20 years and David’s hire will help us further enhance the end-to-end contentious and non-contentious support we offer clients across the firm’s core sectors.’
Bird & Bird has also boosted its London office, hiring a team from PwC Legal including partners Andy Brown and Julian Balson and three other fee earners. The team hires are to launch a specialist tax team within the firm’s international dispute resolution team. The firm as also hired
Anan Sivananthan as a partner for its Singapore office. Sivananthan will join Bird & Bird’s IP team, and arrives from Creative Technology where he was head of the global legal team.
HSF has improved its African presence with the dual hire of competition partner Jean Meijer and project finance consultant Biddy Faber.
Both have joined the firm’s Johannesburg office in South Africa. Meijer was a partner at Bowmans for over 10 years, serving as head and co-head of the competition practice. Meijer also have extensive history of acting in high-profile South African competition cases.
Faber worked at two of the country’s leading banks; FirstRand and Absa. Faber was previously a partner in Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr’s finance and banking practice.
Sidley Austin has hired private equity partner Jan Schinköth from DLA Piper. Joining the firm’s Munich office, Schinköth provides expertise on advising private equity sponsors on the German law aspect of multi-jurisdictional transactions.
Meanwhile, in in-house appointments, Barclays has hired former Bank of America managing director Frederick Reynolds as global head of financial crime. Reynolds will join Barclays’ New York office.
Former Karhoo head of legal Andrew Winterton has been appointed group general counsel and company secretary of Flit Technologies, the company that has bought his former employer out of administration. The new company will relaunch Karhoo later this year after it went into administration in November.
Clyde & Co has continued its US expansion, launching in Chicago and Washington DC. The firm has taken on a team of ten partners from Global 100 firm Troutman Sanders who will launch the two new offices.
Troutman’s Chicago office managing partner Eileen King Bower will head up Clyde & Co’s new office in the city alongside partner Clint Cameron who will take up the role of co-head.
King Bower, who has a general liability and professional liability practice, and Cameron, who focuses on mass tort, environmental and product liability claims, are joined by two other partners in the office – insurance litigation partners David Cutter and James Sanders.
Clyde & Co also picked up a six partner team from Troutman specialising in insurance litigation to open its Washington DC office with Jack Gerstein, David Gische, Leslie Ahari, Meredith Werner, Patrick Hofer and Gaby Richeimer all set to join.
Clyde & Co senior partner Simon Konsta told Legal Business: ‘Chicago is a city that we have been looking at for a little while. We have a number of clients who are headquartered in Chicago and there’s also a substantial insurance operation there too.’
‘Washington, first and foremost [was for] the people. They fit very neatly with our broader US capability and the expansion that we wanted. Washington again is plainly a significant city and one which we hope there is opportunity for growth within and beyond insurance.’
Konsta (pictured) added the firm has also identified growth opportunities in Southern California and in the firm’s energy offering across the US.
It is the first US opening the firm has made made following the appointment of its new head of the Americas. Former senior partner James Burns’ resigned at the end of his first three year term late last year to head up Clyde & Co’s Americas offering.
In December Konsta said he expects Clydes will be close to being a $100m business in the US at the end of this financial year. He added he would ‘like to at least match the 20% growth we achieved in the US last year’. Last year the US brought in 12% of the firm’s turnover, or around £53.7m.
The two new offices follow Clydes’ expansion into Miami in May last year with the acquisition of five partner strong litigation firm Thornton Davis Fein. TDF’s 40 lawyers and staff, who are specialists in product liability and construction as well as Clyde & Co’s traditional aviation, insurance and marine sector focuses – were joined by Clyde & Co partner Ricardo Lewandowski who relocated to the new office from London to launch a Latin American liaison service in Miami.
madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk
Read more: ‘Sideways – A lateral move in leadership and big US ambitions for Clyde & Co’
Clyde & Co‘s highest-paid LLP member received £1.4m during the last financial year, while its merger with Simpson & Marwick brought in an additional £7m in profit in 2015/16.
The firm’s latest LLP accounts show that the firm posted an impressive 13% increase in turnover during the last financial year, up to £447.3m from £395m, while profit per equity partner (PEP) climbed to £665,000 from £600,000.
Remuneration for the highest paid member dropped by 24% year-on-year from £1.8m to £1.4m but this figure in the LLP accounts does not necessarily equate to the highest paid equity partner and can relate to ‘golden handshakes’ to paid to retiring members.
Turnover attributed to the firm’s Scottish business, acquired through its merger with 45-partner Simpson & Marwick in October 2015, was £18m. The Scottish acquisition saw Clyde & Co gain lawyers from Simpson & Marwick’s five Scottish offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and East Lothian plus three English offices Newcastle, London and Leeds.
Staff costs increased by 15% to £201m, with the overall number of staff also increasing by 14% to 2,857. The number of members increased by 11% to 262.
The firm took on more borrowings, which increased from £53.5m to £62m. While the hefty debt has drawn some criticism from partners and former partners, chief executive Peter Hasson said the loans are used for working capital and to fund expansion, ‘all of which, if you look at our track record, have been turned into profitable business activity’.
Hasson also told Legal Business that during the firm’s peak borrowing time in January, 50% of the firm’s needs would be paid from partners’ capital and 50% would be matched by borrowing.
madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk
For more on management changes and the challenges ahead for Clyde & Co, read ‘Sideways – a lateral move in leadership and big US ambitions for Clyde & Co’
Clyde & Co has posted a 17% rise in turnover totalling £224m for the first half of the 2016/17 financial year, improving on last year’s 8% increase over the same period to £192m.
According to the firm, the rise in first-half fee income would have been closer to 10% on a currency constant basis, which is typically what it aims to achieve each year. The 10% lift doesn’t include fees from Simpson & Marwick because the Scottish firm’s turnover was not included for the full six months at the same point last year. The merger with the Scottish firm went through in October 2015.
In May the firm acquired five-partner litigation outfit Thornton Davis Fein, launching its Miami office. The firm also opened the doors to its Düsseldorf office in September taking on five lawyers from local firm Noerr.
‘The mergers at the back end of last year have delivered what we expected.’ Chief executive Peter Hasson (pictured) told Legal Business. ‘We get a small benefit from currency. All the bits of the business are performing within the areas we’d expect. We’ve had a decent first half in the US; Singapore and Australia have done well, but its consistency. The investments we’ve made across the past few years are delivering the returns.’
In September senior partner James Burns decided to stand down and become the firm’s new head for the Americas. Several weeks later global insurance head Simon Konsta, labelled the ‘obvious choice’ by partners within the firm, was named Burns’ replacement after an uncontested election.
Since its tie-up with Barlow Lyde & Gilbert in 2011 revenue has climbed by 111% from £211.8m to £447.1m, and Clydes has more than doubled its number of offices from 20 to 46.
madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk
Read more: ‘Sideways – A lateral move in leadership and big US ambitions for Clyde & Co‘
Clyde & Co has been on a terrific run of growth in the last five years. With a new senior partner installed and his predecessor in the US, will the firm be able to maintain momentum?
When Legal Business sat down with Clyde & Co’s new senior partner Simon Konsta in November, the firm’s notoriously hands-on chief executive Peter Hasson was on holiday in Miami. While discussing Hasson’s intense focus on the day job, Konsta is asked if Hasson will be able to resist checking in. Minutes into the interview, Konsta’s phone starts ringing. It’s Hasson.
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Clyde & Co will downsize its aviation team by three senior associates in a bid to streamline its offering.
Legal Business understands three senior associates are involved in a consultation process with the firm following a review of the practice, while a wider pool of associates within the 40 lawyer team have been notified of the cutbacks. The process will take a minimum of 90 days.
The cuts come as it emerged last week that four casualty partners were to leave for DAC Beachcroft. David Knapp, Danielle Singer, John Goodman and Nigel Adams will join DAC with up to 30 fee earners.
A spokesperson for the firm said: ‘Our market leading UK aviation practice comprises more than 40 legal professionals. Like any business we are constantly monitoring work levels against our staffing and resourcing needs at all levels and we are currently in consultation with a small number of senior lawyers in the team. As a matter of policy we don’t comment on individuals.’
Alongside the cuts, Clyde & Co has continued to expand its operation with the firm announcing it was hiring into its Hong Kong office with corporate lawyer John Chrisman from US firm Dorsey & Whitney.
It was revealed by Legal Business in October that Clyde & Co’s insurance head Simon Konsta would become the firm’s new senior partner following an uncontested election. He took up his post on 1 November after former senior partner James Burns decided to step down to take on a new board-level role at the firm, becoming head of the Americas.
madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk
DAC Beachcroft will pick up a team from its insurance competitor Clyde & Co with four partners making the move to the firm.
Casualty partners David Knapp (pictured), Danielle Singer, John Goodman and Nigel Adams will join DAC with up to 30 fee earners.
DAC will gain ‘strong and consistent performers’ in Knapp and Singer, according to the Legal 500, with Knapp and Adams bringing their strong ties to insurance group Zurich.
Knapp specialises in the defence of complex personal injury claims brought against private and public sector organisations while Goodman advises on general insurance work.
Singer will bring her experience advising on the defence of catastrophic and complex injury claims. Adams, who joined Clyde & Co from Weightmans in 2010, specialises in the resolution of catastrophic and complex injury claims.
A spokesperson at DAC said the firm and its claims solutions group would ‘continue to seek investments that help them sustain and build on the service they provide to their clients’.
In May it emerged DAC had signed a three year ‘best friends’ agreement with Belfast’s McKinty and Wright in a bid to expand its network. From June DAC began referring shared clients and combined marketing efforts with the Northern Ireland firm, a top-ranked specialist insurance defendant practice with seven partners and 19 lawyers in total.
DAC also became one of a few firms to take advantage of the liberalisation of the Malaysian market as it applied to the country’s Bar council for a joint venture licence with Kuala Lumpur-based association firm Gan Partnership, in April.
Meanwhile Clyde & Co has continued with its international expansion this year opening offices in Dusseldorf and Miami, where DAC also opened an office late last year.
madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk
Arnold & Porter and Withers take the latest Olswang leavers, while Watson Farley & Williams (WFW), Clyde & Co and Shakespeare Martineau have all added laterals this week.
In its first UK hire since its merger deal with Kaye Scholer, Arnold & Porter has secured Olswang’s former head of telecoms and Asia managing partner Rob Bratby for its London office.
The US firm is set to add the telecoms lawyer who becomes the latest partner to leave Olswang ahead of the firm’s merger with CMS Cameron McKenna and Nabarro. Bratby will join the newly-merged Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer when the deal is completed on 1 January 2017.
In another departure for Olswang, corporate partner Azlinda Ariffin-Boromand is set to join Withers’ London office in December. Ariffin-Boromand spent three and a half years at Olswang, having joined from Fasken Martineau in 2013. She has particular experience advising high net worth families in Malaysia and South East Asia.
CMS Cameron McKenna has also lost a partner with legacy Dundas & Wilson lawyer Craig McGinn moving in-house to Scottish company SMS Plc. McGinn joins SMS, which makes smartmeters, as general counsel having spent almost ten years at legacy Dundas and two years at Camerons.
In London, Shakespeare Martineau has boosted its office with the hire of two partners in intellectual property and real estate litigation. The firm has hired diputes partner David Vaughan from BLM and technology and IP partner Kim Walker from Bond Dickinson.
WFW has added to its Dubai office, taking on aviation finance partner Oliver Tebbit and a senior associate from Clyde & Co. Tebbit has 15 years’ experience of asset finance deals and commercial aviation work and has worked in Dubai since 2001.
Head of Dubai Andrew Baird said: ‘Oliver is a terrific addition to our Dubai team. His experience and expertise will significantly enhance our regional aviation offering and enable our continued successful growth in the Middle East.’
Going the other way, Clyde & Co has hired into its Hong Kong office, bringing in corporate lawyer John Chrisman from US firm Dorsey & Whitney. Corporate partner Chrisman has 28 years’ experience working with financial institutions and investment banks and particular experience representing Indian clients.
Clyde & Co Hong Kong managing partner Simon McConnell said: ‘We are fortunate to have a firm with strong ties to India and see John’s appointment as an opportunity to further strengthen our capability across the entire Asia Pacific and Middle East region.’
matthew.field@legalease.co.uk
