Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is to end its five-year exclusive tie-up with Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ghazzawi Professional Association (GPA), as international activity in the region shows no sign of slowing down.
The two firms’ association formally ends on 1 August, but HSF will continue to co-operate with GPA on a non-exclusive basis. Neither firm has plans to enter into another exclusive association at this time.
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Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) opened in Seoul last month, becoming the third UK firm to open in Korea, after Clifford Chance and DLA Piper.
The office will be co-headed by London disputes partner Tony Dymond and Singapore corporate partner Lewis McDonald, both of whom are relocating to the region.
The Seoul office will primarily focus on outbound work. It opens with two partners, three associates and a paralegal.
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Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) and Ashurst have both announced their latest partner promotions today (23 April), with Herbert Smith promoting considerably more associates than last year while Ashurst made up fewer partners this time around.
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has promoted 19 lawyers to its partnership, up from just 10 last year, with the majority of the partners come from the firm’s self professed twin engines of corporate and dispute resolution, with seven partners being made up in each practice areas.
Following the firm’s merger with Australian outfit Freehills last summer, seven partners have been made up in Australia. These include corporate lawyers Paul Branston in Brisbane and Mark Currell in Sydney; disputes specialists Leon Chung and Hugh Paynter in Sydney; Matthew Bull, a competition associate in Brisbane; and projects associate Daniel Zador and finance lawyer Rowen Cross, both based in Perth.
In other parts of the Asia-Pacific region, Monica Sun was promoted to a corporate and energy partner in Beijing and Siddhartha Sivaramakrishnan is now an equity capital markets and US securities partner in Singapore. In Hong Kong, Simon Chapman was promoted as an international arbitration partner.
Other partners made up internationally included project finance lawyer Olga Davydava in Moscow; Jonathan Mattout, an investigations and corporate crime expert in Paris; Ben Rubinstein, who focuses on disputes in New York, Edouard Thomas, a corporate partner in Paris and Eduardo Soler-Tappa, now a dispute resolution partner in Madrid.
Only four partners were made up in London: Samantha Brown, now a pensions partner, Mike Flockhart in corporate, Barnaby Hinnigan, a non-contentious insurance and financial institutions specialist and Hywel Jenkins, now a dispute resolution and financial services regulatory partner.
‘This first round of promotions since our merger brings to the partnership a hugely talented group of lawyers who have all shown the necessary international mind-set and business development aptitude to take full advantage of the global platform on which we are now operating,’ said Jonathan Scott, senior partner.
Meanwhile Ashurst appointed 12 partners with effect from 1 May, down from 16 last year. The firm made four appointments in corporate – Rob Aird and Karan Dinamani in London, Aian Abbas in Rome and Jonathan Hsui in Hong Kong; three in energy, transport and infrastructure – Manuel Lopéz in Madrid and Nikhil Markanday and Nick Rainsford in London; two in real estate (Matthew Bool and Ben Patton in London); and one in each of banking (Ross Ollerhead, London), dispute resolution (Pierre-Emmanuel Fender, Paris) and tax (Javier Hernández Galante, Madrid).
As of 1 May 2013, 52% of Ashurst’s partnership will be based outside London, not including Ashurst Australia, while 13% of the partners will be female.
david.stevenson@legalease.co.uk
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer continues to boost its disputes practice in Hong Kong with Herbert Smith Freehills’ (HSF) financial services regulatory partner Tim Mak set to join the firm.
Mak will work alongside Asia head of financial services Royce Miller and contentious regulatory partner Georgia Dawson. Mak is tri-lingual and will specialise in both contentious and non-contentious regulatory matters but has particular experience in civil and criminal proceedings and investigations.
‘We have seen increasing client demand for banking related advice, investigations and arbitration,’ said Christopher Pugh, global head of disputes at the firm. ‘We are strengthening our contentious regulatory expertise for banks with Tim Mak, who has a strong profile for contentious and non-contentious work for major financial institutions in Asia.’
The hire is in line with Freshfields’ strategy to bulk up its disputes team in Asia. Previously, the firm named global heads Lucy Reed as head of international arbitration and Geoff Nicholas as co-head of global investigations, who both relocated to Asia in 2012. Additionally, John Choong will make partner in May while Dawson made partner in May last year.
‘Additionally, the firm re-opened in Singapore last September and aims to expand its arbitration practice further as well as its investigations practice in Singapore, Indonesia and elsewhere in the region,’ added Pugh.
Mak’s departure is the latest in a number of HSF disputes partner exits, including senior litigation partner Simon Bushell who left the firm to join Latham & Watkins in February and financial regulatory duo Nikunj Kiri and Martyn Hopper who joined Linklaters in January 2013 and September 2012 respectively. More recently, veteran litigator Ted Greeno announced his departure for Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.
Mak first joined Herbies in 1995 as a paralegal in Hong Kong. He trained, qualified and became an associate in 1998, and then worked in-house at the Securities and Futures Commission as assistant counsel in May 2000. He re-joined the firm two years later and made partner in the financial services regulatory department in April 2007.
Freshfields’ Asia managing partner Robert Ashworth said: ‘The regulatory environment in which global financial institutions operate has become more and more challenging over recent years and our clients require access to outstanding advice and support on both contentious and non-contentious regulatory matters in all the key global financial centres. Tim is a fantastic addition to our international team.
‘With 15 years on the ground experience in Hong Kong, including acting for PRC clients listed in Hong Kong on SFC matters, Tim knows the market and knows the regulators.’
jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk
BHP Billiton senior executive David Williamson is set to rejoin Ashurst in Australia, where he was a lawyer at legacy firm Blake Dawson for 28 years. It is understood that he will return in June as a partner after spending three years at the mining giant.
Williamson joined the company as head of group legal in 2010 and for almost the last two years also served as chief compliance officer.
Ashurst Australia chairwoman Mary Padbury said: ‘We are delighted that someone of David’s calibre and experience in the Australian legal profession is re-joining the firm. David’s role has placed him in a unique position to understand the impact of the globalisation of legal services and best practice among top-tier firms seeking to address the needs of multinational clients.’
Williamson’s replacement at BHP is Geoff Healy, a litigation partner at Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), who was the firm’s client relationship partner for BHP and had previously advised the company’s board on corporate governance and disputes.
Joint CEO of HSF, Gavin Bell, said: ‘Geoff is the second Herbert Smith Freehills alumni to hold the top legal counsel role at BHP, the first being Mike Ferraro who is now joint global head of the firm’s corporate practice group.’
The moves follow a significant management shake up at BHP Billiton, instigated by new chief executive Andrew Mackenzie.
david.stevenson@legalease.co.uk
Litigation support business, Proven, had hired former Herbert Smith senior partner Lord David Gold as its chairman.
Gold, who currently runs litigation advisory firm David Gold & Associates, will sit on Proven’s board, which includes former BP general counsel and executive vice president Peter Bevan, and former Director of Public Prosecutions River Glaven QC.
London and New York-based Proven, part of the three-fold Good Governance Group, supports litigation and dispute resolution teams involved in high value multi-jurisdictional cases, as well as specialist services in e-discovery and digital forensics.
It was launched in 2009 by an ex-Slaughter and May partner Tim Clark and ex-SJ Berwin senior partner David Harrel.
Gold, whose clients include FTSE100 companies and major banks, was most recently appointed by engine maker Rolls Royce to review its compliance procedures following allegations of bribery and corruption provided to UK’s Serious Fraud Office.
Gold spent 38 years at Herbert Smith before founding David Gold & Associates.
He will ‘undoubtedly strengthen Proven’s position as the partner of choice for major law firms engaged in high value, multi-jurisdictional disputes,’ said Proven CEO Moira Lavery.
On his appointment, Gold said: ‘Proven is a young company but it has already gained a significant reputation for its professionalism in working alongside law firms on complex cross-border cases. Proven’s approach to global investigations is focused on resolving disputes – that is what attracted me to join the business and it is a distinctive approach that has attracted a high quality client base.’
sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) partners received more bad news this morning as it emerged that top litigator Ted Greeno has resigned to join US disputes leader Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.
The departure represents arguably the most high profile contentious practitioner to join a US law firm in London directly from private practice and will be regarded as highly significant for Quinn Emanuel, which is moving to broaden the practice of its City arm.
Greeno’s resignation was announced this morning (27 March) to HSF’s partnership and comes after almost 30 years with the City firm.
His addition will push Quinn Emanuel’s City partnership to 11 and marks a period of sustained hiring for the US firm, which also took on Allen & Overy (A&O) arbitration duo Stephen Jagusch and Anthony Sinclair last spring.
The recent hires reflect a drive by the US-based disputes leader to broaden its international practice with a series of launches in Europe. The firm has also invested heavily in building an international arbitration practice and widening its commercial litigation coverage beyond its core banking disputes practice.
At HSF, Greeno made a name for himself by taking on a number of high-profile cases, particularly in the oil and gas sectors. The move comes after weeks of speculation that Greeno was set to join one of three US practices.
Greeno notably acted for Chevron in connection to its defence of a claim by rivals Total that its joint venture was liable for £1bn in costs related to the explosion at the Buncefield oil depot. He has also handled big ticket contentious work for BSkyB and Shell UK.
His departure will be felt at HSF and is part of a number of high profile exits from the firm in the last six months, particularly from its highly regarded disputes practice. Recent exits include corporate fraud partner Simon Bushell, who is set to join Latham & Watkins, Kevin Lloyd, who left for Debevoise & Plimpton at the end of last year, and Martyn Hopper, who moved to Linklaters in September 2012.
A statement from HSF said: ‘Ted has been with the firm for nearly 30 years and we are sorry to see him go. We would like to thank Ted for his significant contribution to the development of our leading litigation practice and wish him all the best for the future.’
Quinn Emanuel’s co-London managing partner Sue Prevezer QC said: ‘He is a star. He is a specialist in commercial litigation and arbitration with an expertise in the energy sector. He brings to us 30 years of experience. We are interested in the energy sector amongst others and are always looking for good hires.’
See the April edition of Legal Business for an in-depth assessment of Quinn Emanuel’s City office.
emma.sadowski@legalease.co.uk
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has been hit by a string of key departures from its lucrative disputes practice.
Simon Bushell, who co-chaired the corporate fraud and asset tracing group at HSF, is set to join Latham & Watkins’ City office imminently. His departure marks the fourth high-profile litigation exit since the start of the year after Martyn Hopper, who was head of the firm’s successful financial services regulation practice, and Nikunj Kiri both left for Linklaters in January.
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Panel reviews are a cut-throat business these days, even for firms like SNR Denton and Slaughter and May. The duo was recently evicted from the Land Securities legal panel after a year-long review by group general counsel and company secretary Adrian de Souza. It seems not even the big hitters are immune to facing the chop.
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Land Securities has appointed Herbert Smith Freehills and Hogan Lovells to its revamped legal panel following a year-long review that ended in January. The largest commercial property company in the UK now has nine external law firms on its roster.
Group general counsel and company secretary Adrian de Souza has organised his law firms into two main panels, with Berwin Leighton Paisner, Eversheds, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Hogan Lovells and Nabarro placed on panel A, while panel B comprises Dundas & Wilson and Herbert Smith Freehills. There is also an additional specialist panel that contains Allen & Overy for finance and Clifford Chance for corporate work.
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