Legal Business

An opportunity to ‘build something’: KWM’s City litigation head Alex Leitch leaves for Covington

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Strategic recruitment Covington & BurlingKing & Wood Mallesons
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US firm Covington & Burling has bolstered its European disputes capabilities with the hire of King & Wood Mallesons London head of litigation, Alex Leitch (pictured), to its City office, as its plans to bulk up the practice this year.

Leitch is expected to start at Covington in early summer but it is still unknown whether any of his team or key clients will follow. His move, however, is indicative of Covington’s ongoing recruitment strategy within its City disputes practice with more hires expected.

A solicitor advocate who became a partner at legacy SJ Berwin in 2000, his departure comes just over a year after taking over the London litigation chief role in place of Craig Pollack, who was appointed global litigation and dispute resolution chief.

He has specialised in corporate and media-related litigation and acts for hedge funds, private equity houses, asset managers and major public companies in the financial services and private equity sectors. Recommended by The Legal 500, recent instructions includes the high-profile Crown Dilmun litigation relating to the sale of Fulham Football Club’s ground by Harrods; and he was part of the team representing Arch Financial Products, as well as its chief executive Robin Farrell and compliance officer Robert Addison, in connection with the Financial Conduct Authority’s investigation into Arch’s role as investment manager of the Arch Cru funds.

On his departure, Leitch told Legal Business: ‘I had been there for 20 years. I have nothing but respect for King & Wood and my departure is not prompted by any disaffection or lack of appetite for the combination. I met Covington last autumn and I knew they had a strong reputation for their dispute resolution practice, and while it has a great reputation in the US, there’s an opportunity to tell that story here too and build something. The second aspect was the one firm approach where it felt unified across all offices. And the crown jewel of this place is its collegial atmosphere. It has a genuine approach to partnership. Against all the hiring by US firms, and I wasn’t interested in many, those two things were the real pull.’

International arbitration partner Jeremy Wilson added: ‘The firm historically has always had a significant disputes practice. We’ve been focused on growth. Alex provides an opportunity to help us grow and develop so that we have the same offering in London as we do in other offices around the world. We certainly want a multi-partner practice in the litigation group and we intend to make more hires in the litigation and arbitration practices this year.’

The addition of Leitch follows the departure of arbitration partner duo from Covington’s City office last year, Carmen Martinez Lopez who departed to arbitration boutique Three Crowns, and Ben Holland to Squire Patton Boggs.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Spring hires: KWM and A&O bolster core City teams with notable recruits

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Strategic recruitment Allen & OveryKing & Wood Mallesons
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International heavyweights King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) and Allen & Overy (A&O) have ushered in spring by today (2 March) unveiling notable new recruits to their London operations from Global 100 rivals.

KWM has secured the hire of two experienced projects partners in London, adding Linklaters’ James Douglass and DLA Piper’s Ian Wood to its ranks.

Douglass leaves Linklaters after 16 years as a partner in its global projects group. He returns to London from Beijing, where he has spent the last three years leading the development of Linklaters’ China energy and project finance practice. He has also worked for the Magic Circle firm’s Hong Kong office.

He is well known for his work with Sakhalin Energy Investment Company, a consortium owned by Gazprom, Mitsubishi and Shell, extracting gas off the east coast of Russia. He returns to the firm after having previously been an associate at Mallesons. Linklaters confirmed that Douglass had requested to return to London in the summer of 2014 and continue working with his Asia-based clientele but the request was turned down.

Wood joins after eight years as a partner at DLA Piper, where he founded the firm’s nuclear practice. Previously he was in-house counsel at British Nuclear Fuels for six years and a tenant at 8 King Street Chambers. He is one of the UK’s most respected nuclear energy specialists and his longstanding clients include Uranium Asset Management, British Nuclear Fuels, Sellafield, Magnox and Westinghouse.

Neil Upton, head of projects, energy and resources for KWM in London, said: ‘Ian will help us grow one of our areas of focus – power – and nuclear power in a carbon-constrained world is key to this. The nuclear market – waste management, decommissioning and new build – has massive potential, growing in the UK and in a multitude of other jurisdictions, particularly the Middle East.

‘James joins us to focus on oil, gas and power projects globally, with a particular emphasis on our banking clients. As we continue to help our Chinese clients invest globally, and our global clients invest in China and with the energy market in China opening up to foreign investment at a rapid rate, James is joining us at a perfect time.’

Meanwhile, Allen & Overy has boosted its European high-yield practice with the hire of counsel Matthias Baudisch from US firm Cravath Swaine & Moore as a partner. Matthias joins the group, headed by Kevin Muzilla, as the practice looks to grow its leveraged finance bond and loan products offering under both English and New York law.

Baudisch leaves Cravath after 13 years, first joining the firm as an associate in 2002. He was made a senior lawyer in 2010 and then European counsel in 2012. He has experience in both London and New York, although he was based at the Cravath’s London office. He has previously represented underwriters including BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Nomura, as well as private equity houses, including EQT, Lindsay Goldberg and Permira as issuers.

‘Matthias is an excellent hire for us,’ said Muzilla. ‘We’re seeing positive developments unfold in the high-yield space, relating to both new issuers and existing issuers’ financing requirements. As European issuance is moving at a faster pace than in the US, we are ensuring we have the necessary resources and expertise to deal with an unprecedented level of client demand.’

Stephen Kensell, co-head of A&O’s global banking practice added: ‘His experience will complement our growing practice, putting us in the advantageous position of being able to offer the full range of leveraged finance bond and loan products under both English and New York law. This is a requirement our clients are looking for and our experience tells us that it will become ever-more important in the coming year as market participants look to high yield as a viable financing option.’

Baudisch is the latest lateral hire for A&O’s European high yield practice, which recently added partners Marc Plepelits, who joined from Shearman & Sterling in January in Frankfurt; and Jake Keaveny, who joined from Cahill Gordon & Reindel in May last year in London.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk, tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

‘Satisfactory’: King & Wood Mallesons LLP sees 10% drop in UK office revenue

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Financial results 2014/15 King & Wood Mallesons
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Filings at Companies House by King & Wood Mallesons LLP (KWM LLP) have revealed that the firm’s UK office saw a 10.7% fall in turnover in the year to 30 April 2014.

KWM LLP, formerly SJ Berwin before its merger with King & Wood Mallesons in November 2013, covers the firm’s offices in the UK, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Luxembourg and the Middle East. Across that group, turnover fell 1.7% from £182.9m in financial year 2012/13 to £179.4m in 2013/14. Broken down by geography the UK’s contribution fell from £121.5m to £108.5m, though this was offset by strong performances in Europe which picked up 15.9% from £56.7m to £65.8m and the Middle East up 27% from £3.7m to £4.7m.

The hit to revenues saw operating profit fall from £59.6m to £54.3m in the year to 30 April 2014 while profit before partner remuneration and profit shares dropped 7.1% from £57m to £53m.

Staff costs fell slightly from £70.4m to £69.3m after a slight reduction in headcount – though this saw a 4.1% drop in those employed as ‘practice’ staff while support staff rose from 439 to 454. The average number of members dropped slightly from 162 to 161 though the largest entitlement to profit fell to £786,683 from £833,981.

The filings stated that members ‘regard the results for the year and future prospects of the Group to be satisfactory.’ The firm also stated that, ‘the LLP has access to considerable financial resources from across its group. As a consequence, the members believe that the company is well placed to manage its business risks successfully despite the current uncertain economic outlook.’

The firm’s cash in hand and at bank fell from £8.9m on 1 May 2013 to £3.5m on 30 April 2014 while net debt increased from £11.1m to £16.8m.

michael.west@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

‘The logical next step’: King & Wood Mallesons secures Singapore licence

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Singapore King & Wood Mallesons
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Filling in a major hole in King & Wood Mallesons’ (KWM) Asian network, the firm is set to open an office in Singapore, Asia’s largest trading centre for both foreign exchange and commodities.

The Hong Kong-headquartered firm has been granted a foreign law practice licence by Singapore’s Attorney General’s Chambers. The office, which is set to focus on international funds, energy and resources, and trade with China, will become the firm’s 21st in Asia and 33rd globally.

Given the firm’s spread across Asia, KWM already advises several of the Singapore wealth funds on their investments and does work for the Australian investment funds active in the country, including AMP Capital. The firm is currently completing the regulatory processes required by the Singapore authorities and expects to open its office within the next three months.

Global managing partner, Stuart Fuller, said: ‘Singapore is a key market for our clients given its role as a financial and trading hub and a gateway for investments around South East Asia, North Asia and India. Our expansion into these markets through our office in Singapore is the logical next step for the firm.’

‘This was a strategic decision driven by our clients. Singapore is a key market for our clients and the international capability we will provide from our office in Singapore will help us to connect our clients in Asia to the world and our international clients to Asia.’

The firm recently reshuffled its management in Asia, with securities partner Zhang Yi and corporate partner Hayden Flinn made co-heads of its Hong Kong practice.

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Management shuffles: Freshfields names new financial co-head as KWM appoints chiefs in Hong Kong

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Leadership Freshfields Bruckhaus DeringerKing & Wood Mallesons
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Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has made another change in management before the year ends, appointing head of the firm’s retail sector offering Claire Wills (pictured) as co-head of the firm’s financial institutions group (FIG).

London-based Wills will serve in her new role for four years with immediate effect, replacing banking partner Sean Pierce who will continue working on leveraged finance deals. She joins disputes partner Andy Hart, also in London, and corporate finance partner Christoph Gleske, who is based in Frankfurt, as co-head of the sector group.

‘We’ve [Freshfields] worked on more FIG deals by value than any other firm since the start of 2013 as well as representing key financial institutions on various industry investigations and highest profile cases around the globe,’ said Wills. ‘With the increasing breadth of our US FIG practice, our global offering to our clients in the FIG space will be even more convincing.’

Also making management changes is King & Wood Mallesons which has named Zhang Yi and Hayden Flinn as co-chief executives of its Hong Kong practice, while also making changes to its Hong Kong management team.

Yi and Flinn replace Stuart Fuller who covered the dual role of global managing partner of KWM and chief executive of the firm’s Hong Kong partnership since 2012.

As of the beginning of next year, Fuller will focus on leading the firm’s client and market strategy and work to align operations in a bid to become a top tier international law firm headquartered in Asia. Fuller will remain in Hong Kong and continue as global managing partner.

Yi and Flinn will be supported in their roles by practice leaders Richard Mazzochi (banking and finance) Paul Starr (dispute resolution) and Sheldon Tse (corporate and securities), Hong Kong chief operating officer Yvonne Murayama and Fuller as global managing partner.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

News in brief – December 2014

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KennedysKing & Wood Mallesons
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KING & WOOD MALLESONS HIRES HEAVYWEIGHT EVERSHEDS TRIO

KWM last month hired former Eversheds senior partner Cornelius Medvei alongside former international head of real estate William Naunton and former London head of tax Clive Jones. The trio will lead expansion plans for the firm’s structured real estate team.

Legal Business

‘A testament to our strategic direction’: Naunton and Jones ditch real estate boutique dream to join King & Wood Mallesons

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Strategic recruitment Eversheds SutherlandKing & Wood Mallesons
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Senior Eversheds partners William Naunton and Clive Jones, who handed in their resignations at the start of this year with plans of launching a City boutique for high-end real estate work, will join King & Wood Mallesons in the New Year.

Naunton, Eversheds’ former international head of real estate, and Clive Jones, the firm’s former London head of tax, began a 12-month notice period in January with plans to setup a real estate boutique but will now spearhead the growth agenda at KWM’s structured real estate team.

The duo are joined by former Eversheds partner Cornelius Medvei, who stepped down from the firm in April 2014 after 26 years of service. Medvei held a number of management positions during his time at Eversheds, including a three-year stint as London senior partner that ended in 2009 and eight years as head of real estate.

The team will be key to KWM’s aim of expanding its structured, high-end real estate work. While Naunton and Medvei will be situated in real estate and Jones in tax, the work they do will be cross-departmental and international. Jones, who joined Eversheds six years ago from Clifford Chance, spent much of his time at Eversheds advising on structured real estate transactions and investment structures.

Head of property litigation Jason Juden and property partner Ed Page were recently elected co-heads of UK real estate at KWM after former co-head William Boss was appointed as King & Wood Mallesons’ next managing partner for EMEA and co-head Simon Ricketts stepped down from the role.

Boss said that the trio’s decision ‘to join us instead of pursuing their standalone offering is hugely exciting and a testament to our strategic direction both in the real estate group and more generally as a firm’.

Medvei commented: ‘Increasingly, the market’s focus is on international real estate opportunities, with a clear trend towards Asian, Australasian and Middle Eastern investors seeking opportunities in Europe and across the globe. The strength of King & Wood Mallesons in those markets, the breadth of their footprint and their corporate strength perfectly complements and enhances our offer.’

He added: ‘The opportunity to move more swiftly and strongly into that market than we could have done on our own, coupled with the alignment we feel exists between King & Wood Mallesons’ aspirations and culture and our own, made the opportunity an irresistible one for us.’

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

News in Brief – November 2014

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Salaries Allen & OveryKing & Wood MallesonsQuinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
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PWC LEGAL LOOKS FOR REGIONAL GROWTH

Addleshaw Goddard and DLA Piper veteran Neal Shepherd was recruited by PwC Legal to head a regional push out of its Manchester office. The accountancy giant is targeting the north of England, with Shepherd focusing on mid-market M&A and expanding the team into PwC business areas, including employment and pensions.

 

Legal Business

What’s in a name: One year on King & Wood Mallesons drops SJ Berwin

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Legal mergers King & Wood Mallesons
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King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin will cut the SJ Berwin from its name on 1 November, a year after merging with the UK firm.

After the merger, which bolted the £184m revenue SJ Berwin onto the Sino-Australian firm to create a $1bn powerhouse headquartered in Asia, the firm marketed itself as the bulky King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin in Europe, where the firm has offices in Belgium, France and Italy, as well as the UK, while undertaking a brand integration process. Everywhere else, the firm continued to be known as KWM.

A firm spokesperson said: ‘We said when we combined with King & Wood Mallesons back in 2013, that we would move towards being called King & Wood Mallesons globally, once we were happy that we’d successfully transitioned the brand. 1 November marks our one year anniversary, our clients globally have responded very positively to the new firm, and therefore we’re confident that we’re ready to adopt the one firm name across all markets.’

The name change comes as the London office has gone through a state of upheaval in recent months, with Rob Day surprising the market by announcing he will step down from his role as KWM SJB’s head of EMEA on 1 May 2015. Co-head of UK real estate William Boss will replace Day, taking up a three-year term next summer. Stephen Kon, who has been a partner at SJ Berwin since 1998 and led the firm through the merger, was re-elected as senior partner and will serve a fresh three-year term alongside Boss.

The firm also saw the departure last month of Steven Davis, who led SJ Berwin’s City corporate team before the merger, for Proskauer Rose, whose own merger plans with SJ Berwin collapsed before the City firm looked eastwards for growth.

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

‘A difficult decision’: Rob Day steps down as KWM SJ Berwin MP while Kon continues

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Leadership King & Wood Mallesons
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King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin has today (7 October) announced the election of UK real estate co-head William Boss as its next managing partner, while senior partner Stephen Kon has been re-appointed to his leadership role.

Having joined the firm 16 years ago from legacy Bond Pearce and made partner in 2005, Boss works with key clients including Marks & Spencer, The Crown Estate and Battersea Power Station. The real estate leader takes over from incumbent managing partner, Rob Day, who will have served two terms when he steps down in May 2015. The firm said that given the ‘importance of ensuring continuity at a time of change’ it brought forward the election process over the summer to ‘ensure an effective handover period’.

Kon, meanwhile, moved into management as senior partner in May 2012 and led legacy SJ Berwin into its combination with King & Wood Mallesons last year. His re-election is ‘affirmation of his contribution to the position to date and marks the importance of continuing to drive the firm’s strategy forward over the coming years’.

Outgoing managing partner Rob Day said: ‘It was a difficult decision not to stand for re-election as managing partner, but having spent the last six years in the role I believe I have helped the firm develop both operationally and strategically and that now is the right time to let someone else take the helm with Stephen.’ 

Boss said: ‘This is a hugely exciting time for our business, as we look to capitalise on our potential as a global player with a unique difference. I am honoured to take on the role and will continue Rob’s excellent work in building a successful business for the benefit of our exceptional people and top flight clients.’

Senior partner Stephen Kon added: ‘I fully understand and respect Rob’s decision that now is the appropriate time for him to pass the managing partner mantle to William. William has enormous talent, energy, judgement and integrity and I am looking forward to working with him in taking the firm forward in the future.’

Sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk