Legal Business

Taking Manhattan – Gibson Dunn posts strong 2013 financials after another impressive year

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Financial results 2013 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
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Identified as one of a handful of firms based outside New York that have mounted a serious challenge to the Wall Street old guard, California’s Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has followed posting double-digit revenue growth for 2012, with a slightly more modest but nonetheless impressive 7.4% increase in revenues for 2013.

Revenues for 2013 were $1.39bn, up from $1.29bn. This is particularly strong turnover growth, on the back of the 10.7% increase in 2012 on the $1.17bn revenues the firm posted in 2011. Successive increases in revenue has given the firm an impressive overall growth of 42% over a six-year period between 2007 and 2012.

Revenue per lawyer moved slightly up from $1.159m to $1.202m or an increase of 1%. The firm’s profit per equity partner (PEP) also rose 4.9% to $2.948m, but again this growth was slower than 2012, when PEP grew 13.7% from $2.472m to $2.812m.

The firm profited from a large chunk of litigation work last year from key client Chevron when it represented the energy giant to prevent enforcement of an $18bn Ecuadorian judgment, led by Randy Mastro, a partner in the New York office and co-chair of the firm’s litigation group.

Gibson Dunn chairman and managing partner Ken Doran said: ‘Gibson Dunn had another strong year. We appreciate our clients for entrusting us with their most significant matters – which included litigation, investigations, counselling and transactional matters. We are well-positioned around the world to continue to provide quality and cost effective counsel to our clients on their greatest legal challenges.’

The firm also made significant investment into its City base last year, hiring Penny Madden from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom as an arbitration and disputes partner in the London office, as well as former senior director at the Office of Fair Trading Ali Nikpay, who joined the firm’s City antitrust and competition law practice as a partner in April.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

See Taking Manhattan for more on the progressive US firms challenging the status of the Wall Street elite

Legal Business

In-house: MasterCard appoints new GC; UBS regulatory chief exits for Gibson Dunn; and HSBC hires Cleary partner

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In-house Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
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The start of the year has seen much lateral movement both in-house and out, with MasterCard naming Tim Murphy as general counsel and chief franchise officer as incumbent Noah Hanft retires from the company. Meanwhile, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher announced the hire of the former Americas general counsel and global head of investigations at UBS, Mark Shelton, as a partner in its New York office, while HSBC has confirmed that Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton partner Shawn Chen officially joined the bank this week to jointly oversee its litigation and regulatory enforcement department with co-general counsel Guy Nielson.

The appointment of Murphy as MasterCard’s general counsel becomes effective on 1 April where he will also join the company’s executive committee.

Murphy joined MasterCard’s legal team in 2000 and became senior vice president and associate general counsel in 2003. He then became chief product officer, responsible for leading the management, development and commercialisation of MasterCard’s core payment solutions.

MasterCard’s president and chief executive officer Ajay Banga said Murphy’s ‘legal background, coupled with his extensive experience leading important portions of our business, makes him the ideal candidate to take our company forward.’

Beginning May 1, 2014, the retiring Hanft will become the president and CEO of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution, a non-profit organisation with the objective of helping global businesses resolve complex commercial disputes.

Meanwhile, Gibson Dunn’s hire of heavyweight bank regulatory specialist Shelton is a coup for the firm. Shelton will focus on advising financial institutions on regulation, internal and regulatory investigations, financial sanctions, foreign corrupt practices, anti-money laundering, enforcement and congressional hearings. During his 10-year tenure at UBS, Shelton served in several in-house positions, having most recently served both as Americas general counsel since 2009 and as global head of investigations since 2011. He also has served as general counsel for wealth management and for the investment bank in the Americas.

A former partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr from 1997 to 2003, Shelton’s role as global head of investigations gave him responsibility for significant internal and regulatory investigations for all business groups globally. He led UBS’s global internal investigation into Libor activities and appeared before numerous global regulatory bodies and conducted settlement discussions with various government agencies.

Gibson Dunn chairman and managing partner Ken Doran said Shelton ‘gained exceptional depth and breadth of experience’ during his time at UBS ‘related to multi-jurisdictional regulatory and other sophisticated legal issues facing large, global financial institutions.

‘Gibson Dunn has a significant practice representing financial institutions in bank and securities regulation, litigation, investigations, corporate governance and public policy matters. Mark will significantly enhance our financial institutions capabilities.’

Moving in the opposite direction, former Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton partner Shawn Chen has joined HSBC where he will share global responsibility with joint general counsel Guy Nielson for the bank’s exposure to litigation and regulatory enforcement risk, as well as the financial crime compliance advisory department, the global internal investigations group, and the employment and human resources advisory group. Both will report to current chief legal officer Stuart Levy.

The Washington-based Chen focused on white-collar criminal defence, securities enforcement, and complex civil litigation during his time at Cleary. His move in-house also comes just months after former senior White House lawyer Preeta Bansal exited HSBC after only a year-long stint as head of litigation and regulatory affairs, one of several top-level hires made by the bank following a US Senate investigation into its financial improprieties.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Revolving Doors: Ashurst makes key energy hire in New York as Gibson Dunn and Squire Sanders expand in London

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Strategic recruitment AshurstGibson, Dunn & CrutcherSquire Patton Boggs
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Ashurst this week announced the hire of Allen & Overy (A&O) energy partner Charles Williams in a bid to boost its New York energy, resources and infrastructure practice.

The move strengthens the firm’s position within the US public-private partnership (PPP) space – dubbed P3 in the US – an area Williams focussed on at A&O. He brings with him experience of representing the public sector, sponsors and lenders within the transportation sector and advising on renewables projects in the North, Central and South America.

Head of Ashurst’s energy, resources and infrastructure team in the Americas, Jason Radford, said: ‘Combining Ashurst’s credentials as a leading international firm in the P3 and renewables field with our US public finance capability provides us with a very strong platform for our US practice. Charles has an excellent reputation as a leading practitioner in this market and his appointment is a further significant boost to our offering.

‘The US has the potential to become one of the world’s largest PPP and renewables markets and we are confident that the addition of Charles to our team will allow us to capitalise on the significant opportunities in these sectors.’

Radford transferred to New York in September 2011 to build a platform with the firm’s US partners within the transport sector. Provided the US PPP market continues to grow as well as Ashurst’s market share, Radford aims to expand the team further over the next year to broaden its client offering.

Williams added: ‘To date the US P3 market has been dominated by transportation projects but increasingly we are seeing other sectors develop, including water/waste water and social infrastructure.’

Elsewhere, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has hired international arbitration partner Penny Madden in London. Madden has been a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom’s in London since 2007, prior to which she practiced at Clifford Chance and Shearman & Sterling.

Gibson Dunn’s senior partner in the dispute resolution group, Philip Rocher, said: ‘In addition to her international arbitration practice, Penny has significant regulatory and investigations experience. These areas have been a significant driver of our recent growth, and Penny will add to our ability to meet our clients’ needs.’

In a further high profile London move, Addleshaw Goddard’s head of structured finance Mark Thomas has joined Squire Sanders’ financial services practice group (FSPG) in London. The hire is the fifth in a series of senior appointments to Squires growing financial services practice in the past 10 months.

Jim Barresi, partner and global leader of the FSPG said: ‘Mark’s skills and experience are increasingly important to minimizing the cost of capital in the wake of regulatory reform. His expertise complements our existing practice in asset-based lending and asset finance, capital markets and banking regulation and will expand our ability to provide in Europe some of the services we provide clients in the US.’

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

OFT senior director joins Gibson Dunn’s City office

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Competition Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
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Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has recruited Ali Nikpay, senior director at the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) into its antitrust and competition group in London.

Nikpay joins the US firm as a partner after nine years at the OFT and brings with him Deirdre Taylor, global OFT assistant director from the cartel and criminal enforcement division. Both will be based in London and will start on April 15.

At Gibson Dunn, Nikpay will focus on strengthening the European practice, advising clients on EU and UK cartels, mergers, monopolization cases and other regulatory investigations. He will also work closely with Gary Spratling, who is a partner based in San Francisco.

‘Competition enforcement is getting increasingly complex as more and more authorities take a serious interest in cartels and mergers, so there is a greater need than ever to help companies understand and manage these complexities in a strategic way,’ said Nikpay.

He also said he aims to look to the US model where the same lawyers handle cases at every stage from the investigation through to appeals and damages actions. This involves thinking more about how and when barristers are used particularly as Lord Falconer QC, the former Lord Chancellor, is a partner at Gibson Dunn, he said.

He added: ‘Sometimes it’s better to instruct barristers, but I want there to be an opportunity for clients to use Gibson Dunn throughout the case, provided it is in the client’s best interest.’

Previously, Nikpay headed the OFT’s cartels and criminal enforcement division and was appointed as one of the two main merger decision-makers. He was also a member of the executive committee. Prior to the OFT, he was an anti-trust lawyer in Clifford Chance’s competition and regulation practice. He was also a competition directorate lawyer at the European Commission.

‘Ali brings a wealth of cartel and mergers investigation experience, which will add depth to our competition capabilities and further enhance our ability to serve clients in this important practice area,’ said Tom Budd, London office head.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Liberalisation of Singapore market gathers pace

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Singapore Gibson, Dunn & CrutcherOlswangShearman & Sterling
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The Singapore Ministry of Law (MinLaw) stopped receiving applications from foreign law firms seeking a Qualifying Foreign Law Practice (QFLP) licence at the end of August. Twenty-three firms have applied for a QFLP, with UK-based Ashurst, Berwin Leighton Paisner, DLA Piper, Olswang and Stephenson Harwood all confirming that they have applied for licences alongside US firms Jones Day, K&L Gates, Watson, Farley & Williams, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Shearman & Sterling.

Singapore used to only allow foreign firms to work alongside domestic practices in limited joint ventures. However, in 2008 MinLaw granted six QFLPs to Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Herbert Smith, Latham & Watkins, Norton Rose and White & Case, allowing those firms to practise Singaporean law with some restrictions. The latest moves reflect the increasing interest of international firms in practising local law.