Legal Business

‘Steven has been a tremendous force’: Proskauer turns to KWMSJB’s best-known London M&A lawyer as it shifts focus

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Strategic recruitment King & Wood MallesonsProskauer Rose
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Steven Davis, who led SJ Berwin’s City corporate team before its $1bn Sino-Australian merger, is set to leave the firm for Proskauer Rose, whose own merger plans with SJ Berwin collapsed before the City firm looked eastwards for growth.

Davis, who stood down as London head of corporate after seven years in the post following the merger, will become the fourteenth City partner at Proskauer and is something of a coup for the firm which is looking to increase its focus on M&A work. Davis, whose clients include Lloyds Banking Group and private equity giant Bridgepoint, was on legacy SJ Berwin’s seven-member management committee in the run up to the merger and would have been a senior figure involved in the merger talks with Proskauer Rose in 2011.

He reunites with a three-partner funds team, led by Nigel van Zyl, which left SJ Berwin to launch Proskauer’s London office in 2011. He is the first major hire for the firm in London since it snapped up Robert Gaut from Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson to head its tax practice in January this year [2014].

King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin senior partner, Stephen Kon said: ‘Steven has been a tremendous force both within the Corporate department and firm over the years.  We recognise and appreciate his contribution and wish him well.’

KWMSJB is planning to boost its London office with Tim Bednall, global practice co-ordinator for its corporate division, and Shanghai-based partner Mike Wang being brought in on secondment to emphasise the firm’s connections with Asia. 

A number of legacy SJ Berwin partners have exited the firm in London since the merger, which was finalised in 2013, including private equity heavyweight Tim Wright who joined DLA Piper and litigator Giovanna Kwong who exited for Stephenson Harwood.

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

‘A true litigator’: O’Melveny & Myers hires Asian heavyweight Denis Brock from King & Wood Mallesons

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Litigation partner Denis Brock, who headed Clifford Chance’s Asian disputes practice for nine years, has swapped King & Wood Mallesons for US firm O’Melveny & Myers.

Brock, who joined King & Wood Mallesons four years ago, will become the fifth partner in O’Melveny & Myers’ Hong Kong office when he joins on 1 October and the first full time disputes partner, with arbitration specialist Friven Yeoh currently splitting his time between Hong Kong and Singapore.

Brock, who spent 24 years with Clifford Chance but left shortly after losing out to Jeremy Sandelson in the race to become global head of litigation in 2009, handles both litigation and arbitration, specialising in shareholder disputes, professional negligence claims, banking litigation and fraud investigations. He is admitted to practise law in England and Wales, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and New York and joins the firm’s business trial and litigation practice in a boost to the firm’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) capability in Asia at a time when US authorities are looking to step up bribery investigations.

Bradley Butwin, chair of O’Melveny & Myers, said: ‘He is well known in the Hong Kong and London legal communities as a true litigator, committed to serving clients in a wide range of their most pressing legal matters. His addition is further evidence of O’Melveny’s commitment to growing strategically in the region.’

King & Wood Mallesons said in a statement: ‘We confirm Denis Brock is retiring from King & Wood Mallesons Hong Kong.  Our strategy is to maintain and build the talent and capability in dispute resolution to support our leading brand in the Asia Pacific region.  We do not believe that his departure from the firm affects that strategy.’

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

KWMSJB brings in arbitration partner to develop Russia and CIS disputes work

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Just two years after joining Winston & Strawn’s international arbitration group from the legacy Norton Rose, London-based disputes lawyer Andrei Yakovlev has upped sticks to join King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin.

With KWMSJB targeting arbitration growth in London, having last year hired the former head of Dentons’ dispute resolution practice Paul Stothard, the firm’s hire of Yakovlev is a strategic move to attract disputes originating out of Russia. It sees 4 international arbitration partners working out of the London office with Craig Pollack and Dorothy Murray working alongside Stothard and Yakovlev.

Yakovlev has been a partner for 11 years, having been made up at what was then Dewey Ballantine, which later merged into the collapsed Dewey & Leboeuf, before a five-year stint at Norton Rose and then at Winston & Strawn.

His practice is built around a rich client base in the CIS and the Middle East. He recently represented the Kyrgyz Republic in a trio of UNCITRAL arbitration proceedings worth more than $500m arising out of nationalization of the nation’s largest bank, AsiaUniversalBank, and was one of the defendant’s lawyers in a $2bn claim at the London Court of International Arbitration brought by Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuk against Igor Valeriyovych and Gennady Bogolyubov.

An arbitration lawyer by trade, he has unusually also advised on the transactional side of numerous capital markets transactions, private and public M&As, sovereign financings and sovereign debt restructurings. He has also represented the likes of Credit Suisse, UBS and JP Morgan for issuance of notes.

Craig Pollack, head of KWM’s dispute resolution practice, said: ‘Andrei is a fantastic addition to our global international arbitration group which already boasts over 35 partners worldwide who have a primary focus on international arbitration work. We are delighted that he has decided to join us and to help drive and develop our established reputation and practice for international arbitration work involving Russian and CIS parties.”

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Loss and gain: Ashurst loses City corporate partner as KWM finance partner joins in Sydney

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Ashurst yesterday (12 May) saw both sides of the lateral hiring coin as it announced the hire in Sydney of King & Wood Mallesons finance partner Jennifer Schlosser but lost London corporate partner Fabio Pizzoccheri, who has left the firm to launch Grimaldi Studio Legale’s (GSL’s) new City office.

GSL’s launch comes as the Italian firm identified the need to grow in London and bridge the gap between Europe and Italy. Pizzoccheri will lead the new office, which will focus on the corporate and financial markets, offering services to international law firms that do not have an Italian offering. The firm will also offer services to financial institutions, funds and multinational group, as well as its existing clients in Milan, Rome and Brussels.

Pizzoccheri, a former Dewey & LeBoeuf partner who joined Ashurst in 2010, specialising in financial services, capital markets and corporate, said the firm does not plan to grow its City headcount in the short-term, commenting: ‘These days firms need to be careful in terms of cost.’

Pizzoccheri will at GSL be joining former colleagues from Dewey including partners Stefano Speroni, Davide Contini and Angelo Zambelli who all, amongst others, joined the firm after Dewey & LeBoeuf went bankrupt in 2012.

GSL currently has around 100 fee-earners across its Rome, Milan and Brussels offices and provides M&A, private equity, tax, financial, litigation and competition advisory services.

CEO of the firm Vittorio Grimaldi said: ‘Our goal of expansion and internationalisation was bound to lead to the opening of a new office in London. The office will be lead by our new partner Fabio Pizzoccheri and we are certain that it will soon grow further with the addition of other high calibre professionals.’

Meanwhile, Ashurst revealed yesterday that it has hired finance partner Jennifer Schlosser in its Sydney office from King & Wood Mallesons.

Schlosser specialises in securitisation and structured debt capital markets, and is involved with the Australian Securitisation Forum, and has international banking and finance experience from working in Canada, Germany and the UK.

Ashurst vice-chairman Mary Padbury said: ‘Our panel relationships and continuing work with Australia’s four major banks and the global focus of the firm on the financial services sector has created significant opportunities within our finance practice. Through targeted lateral hires such as Jennifer’s and internal promotions to partnership of some of our brightest legal minds, we are continuing to build on the strength and depth of talent in our finance practice to the ultimate benefit of our clients.’

Global co-head of Ashurst’s finance practice Paul Jenkins added: ‘Her [Schlosser’s] extensive experience in securitisation and structured finance – primarily acting for originators, financiers and arrangers in public and private domestic and offshore transactions – will be of enormous benefit to our practice.’

Legal Business

DLA Piper hires King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin private equity partner Tim Wright

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DLA Piper has hired King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin (KWMSJB) City private equity partner Tim Wright, whose resignation from the partnership was announced internally late yesterday (7 May).

Wright, a former Clifford Chance (CC) partner, specialises in a variety of private company transactions including sales, purchases, equity arrangements and joint ventures.

He has acted for private equity houses such as Duke Street on the sale this year of its controlling stake in leading UK debt purchaser, Marlin Financial Group, to Cabot Credit Management in a deal which values the company at £295m. Other deals for Duke Street include the sale in 2012 of specialist engineering group Deloro Stellite, and in the same year he advised TDR Capital and VPS on the acquisition of SitexOrbis.

Wright joined SJ Berwin in 2004 from CC, where he became a partner in 2001.

Bob Bishop, UK head of corporate at DLA Piper, said: ‘Private equity has long been a key pillar of our corporate offering. With signs that the PE market has turned a corner, we’re delighted to welcome a lawyer of Tim’s calibre and experience in this space.’

DLA last year targeted King & Wood Mallesons for a number of hires, taking a group of five finance and projects lawyers in January 2013 led by partner Carolyn Dong.

KWMSJB, meanwhile, saw a reshuffle in its corporate team at the end of last year, when corporate head Steven Davis stepped down after seven years in the position. He was succeeded by partners Michael Goldberg and Richard Lever as co-heads of the practice group.

A spokesperson for KWMSJB confirmed that Wright was leaving, commenting: ‘We wish him every success for the future.’

david.stevenson@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin hires A&O competition partner as globally KWM unveils promotions

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King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin (KWMSJB) yesterday (30 April) announced the hire of former Allen & Overy antitrust and competition partner Martin Bechtold to its Frankfurt office, as globally the Sino-Pacific-UK giant promoted a total of 26 lawyers to partner, including nine in Europe.

Bechtold, who before A&O in 2006 was a partner at Clifford Chance, has over 30 years’ competition experience, covering areas such as German and EU competition law and antitrust litigation, along with general competition counselling, advisory and compliance work.

This is a significant hire for KWMSJB, building its global EU competition and regulatory practice to over 100 lawyers, with around 30 partners spread across the firm’s separate partnerships in Europe, China, Hong Kong and Australia.

‘Martin is a heavyweight lawyer with an impressive track record. His hire strengthens our offering to clients, as part of an ongoing strategy to develop our business in Germany in terms of lateral hires, strategic focus and market presence,’ said Tilman Siebert, head of the EU, competition and regulatory practice in Germany.

Meanwhile, the latest partner promotions saw nine associates made up in KWMSJB’s European arm, with the remainder in Australia and China, where the firm is known simply as King & Wood Mallesons (KWM).

Rob Day, managing partner of KWMSJB, said: ‘Nine partner promotions is a testament to the priority we place on our homegrown talent. As client-first and commercially minded people, these individuals are a true asset and reinforce our strategy and commitment to growing our business.’

The firm’s push in the corporate sector is reflected by its promotion of two corporate partners in London and two in Paris, with corporate constituting over a third of promotions across the whole of KWM.

Seven partners were promoted in Australia across the firm’s Sydney and Perth offices, while ten were promoted in China.

‘As a people business, it is important that these global promotions reflect our diversity, in terms of practice, culture, geography and gender. It is particularly pleasing that just over one-third of our new partners are women,’ said Stuart Fuller, global managing partner of the firm.

‘These 26 new partners will continue to make a big impact on our clients and our business, and are integral as we drive forward with our strategy to build a genuinely different kind of law firm for the future,’ he added.

David.stevenson@legalease.co.uk

The full list of partner promotions:

Australia

Paul Schroder (Corporate, Sydney)

Claire Rogers (Banking & Finance, Sydney)

Nathan Collins (Banking & Finance, Perth)

Katherine Vines (Projects & Real Estate, Perth)

Mark Bayliss (Projects & Real Estate, Sydney)

Juliana Jorissen (Dispute Resolution, Perth)

Jerome Tse (Tax, Sydney)

China

Rong Fan (Corporate, Beijing)

Jingchuan Zhao (Corporate, Beijing)

Hui Li (Patent, Beijing)

Ke Jiang (International Trade, Beijing)

Ya Peng (Dispute Resolution, Beijing)

Hui Xu (Securities, Shanghai)

Guojun Ye (Securities, Hangzhou)

Ming Yang (Corporate, Hangzhou)

Haidi Teng (Dispute Resolution, Shenzhen)

Jun Sha (Dispute Resolution, Guangzhou)

Europe & Middle East

Martin Brockhausen, (International Funds, Munich)

Tom Calnan (Real Estate, Dubai)

David Fitzgerald (Corporate, London)

Joe Newitt (Corporate London)

William Robert, (Corporate, Paris)

Gretchen Scott (Commerce & Technology, London- currently on secondment to the Dubai office)

Pierre-Louis Sevegrand-Lions (Corporate, Paris)

Natasha Tardif (EU, Competition & Regulatory, Paris)

Axel Walz (Intellectual Property, Munich)

Legal Business

Reed Smith ramps up City litigation practice with hire of King & Wood’s Nick Brocklesby

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Reed Smith is continuing to ramp up its City practice, its largest office globally, with the hire of King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin litigator Nick Brocklesby.

Brocklesby became an SJ Berwin partner in 2008 and has experience of complex commercial litigation and regulatory work, with a financial services focus.

Some of his recent case highlights include advising Morgan Stanley in the Court of Appeal, in relation to proceedings against Tael One Partners, as well as acting for Apple in its high-profile litigation against The Beatles relating to the iTunes Music Store.

Richard Spafford, partner and head of Reed Smith’s Europe and Middle East commercial disputes group said: ‘We are very pleased that Nick is joining us. He is a high quality litigator with an excellent reputation and will be a superb addition to our substantial team.’

The hire comes as the firm looks to expand its financial services disputes practice in London and follows the recruitment of Travers Smith’s leverage finance partner Ben Davis, who joined the firm’s City office in March.

The firm also recently bolstered its European corporate and banking capability in Paris, with the hire of Hogan Lovells corporate partner Isabelle MacElhone in February, who was previously a partner with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

This followed the launch of Reed Smith’s Paris competition practice in April last year after it hired Hogan Lovells antitrust partner Michel Debroux.

The global top 30 firm has seen its 2013 revenue grow by 6% to $1.075bn from $1.013bn, while its profit per equity partner figure rose by 5.5% to $1.14m from $1.08m in the previous financial year.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

For further analysis of Reed Smith’s City practice see Reed Smith set for record year in London thanks to lateral push and sector focus

Legal Business

Emerging markets M&A down as King & Wood tops league

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With the emerging markets continuing to dominate the expansion strategies of many City and international firms, the short term picture remains mixed as the value of M&A activity in the region bucked a global trend by dropping to $125.7bn during the first quarter of 2014, down by 4.7% from $131.9bn compared with the first quarter of 2013.

The total number of M&A transactions in the emerging markets in Q1 was down to 2,583, a drop of 17.9% from the same period last year, according to the latest M&A legal review from Thomson Reuters.

Taking a longer view, activity levels have since failed to replicate a high of $193.6bn achieved in the first quarter of 2010, which slumped to $87.9bn during the same period in 2009.

So far this year, the majority of M&A activity has been in China, which boasts 836 transactions worth $50.1bn. While Brazil generated the second highest volume, it fell far behind China’s tally on 154 deals at $13bn.

In terms of sectors, real estate accounted for 18% of all M&A volumes and $22.2bn in deals, with energy and power close behind with 17% of deals totalling $21.3bn.

The M&A rankings show that King & Wood Mallesons topped the list with a total deal value of $10.5bn across three deals, all of which involved M&A activity in China. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom fell in second place with a total deal value of $7.5bn across eleven announced deals followed by Davis Polk & Wardwell with $6.7bn over ten deals.

This comes as the value of worldwide M&A deals increased by 52% to $756.1bn during the first quarter of 2014, compared to the same period last year. On the other hand, the number of total deals was the slowest for M&A since 2004 with 8,237 deals announced during the first quarter of 2014, a 10% decline compared with a year ago.

For worldwide M&A deals, Skadden Arps emerged as the highest ranking firm by value after advising on 49 deals worth slightly over $153bn. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett was second with a total of $123.7bn across 36 deals, with White & Case ranked third totalling a value of $114.3bn across 40 deals.

Jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Berlin office closure for King & Wood following partner departures and ‘strategic review’

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Following signifcant movement within the German arms of major international firms of late, King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin (KWMSJB) has pointed to a strategic review of its German operations for the decision to close its Berlin office, after venture capital duo Frank Vogel and Jan Dirk Heerma resigned with the intention to set up their own boutique.

Till Fock, the head of the newly-merged firm’s financial transaction markets is currently ‘considering his options’, while counsel Tilman de Vries is relocating to the KWMSJB’s Frankfurt office.

The firm will now consolidate its focus on its two remaining German offices: Frankfurt and Munich, which house a total of around 100 fee-earners.

Managing partner Rob Day said: ‘We keep the market under constant review and have, together with the partners in Berlin, come to the mutual decision to close the Berlin office as part of our strategic review of our German operation.

‘We remain fully committed to our venture capital funds practice and our substantial and growing client base in Berlin. Our focus on corporate, international funds, finance competition, tax and litigation plays to our strength and depth in the business centres of Frankfurt and Munich with a number of laterals joining the firm.’

Stefan Krüger and Sonya Pauls were recently appointed as co-managing partners of the German practice, and last month the firm made a significant investment in its Munich office with the hire of Linklaters corporate partner Franz Schaefer.

The news comes after US heavyweight Sidley Austin ordered a review of its Frankfurt office last month following a spate of partner departures, and Shearman & Sterling also hived off two thirds of its German offices last year with the closure of Dusseldorf and Munich, consolidating its efforts on Frankfurt.

‘Whilst we proactively manage our business, office closures are always difficult decisions,’ Day added.

david.stevenson@legalease.co.uk

For further analysis of the German legal market see How the dust settles – Germany’s profession is forever changed but singular still

Legal Business

King & Wood Mallesons reshuffles management team again following partner exit

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King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) has made another change to its practice management team just months after restructuring its leadership following its merger with SJ Berwin in November. Legacy SJ Berwin partner Craig Pollack was today (7January) named as its new global co-ordinator for dispute resolution replacing Beau Deleuil, who left KWM a month after the merger to join Quinn Emmanuel Urquhart & Sullivan’s Sydney office.

Pollack is already on the international management committee as an alternate and will continue as head of the Europe and Middle East dispute resolution practice. Alex Leitch will take over from Pollack as the new London head of dispute resolution.

The firm also announced that Australia’s Tim Bednall will assist global corporate head and former Clifford Chance partner Rupert Li as the deputy global co-ordinator of the corporate, M&A and securities group. A spokesperson for the firm confirmed that the size and the profile of the corporate practice within the firm necessitated a deputy leader.

Stuart Fuller, global managing partner, said: ‘The global practice co-ordinators are part of our new globally integrated structure. This structure is critical to ensuring we deliver a seamless and commercially focused legal service across the firm, which is completely client-focused.’

The firm originally announced the global practice co-ordinators in November, made up of three partners from each legacy firm to head the groups, as well the management structure of the firm, including the international management committee and the executive committee.

The global practice co-ordinators are responsible for developping business plans into a global strategy for their practice teams. They work together through the business development committee and report to the international management committee. The committee is led by global chairman Wang Junfeng, and includes Stephen Kon, Rob Day, Maxence Bloch and Stefan Kruger.

Rob Day, managing partner of King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin, said of Leitch’s appointment as London head of disputes: ‘Litigation and arbitration are important parts of our business and Alex brings a wealth of experience to the role. Together with Craig, I am confident Alex will continue to deliver outstanding results for our clients as we see the contentious side of our business grow.’

The new list of global practice co-ordinators is:

Antitrust & regulatory – Simon Holmes

Banking & finance – Yuen-Yee Cho

Corporate, M&A and securities – Rupert Li (with Tim Bednall as deputy co-ordinator)

Dispute resolution- Craig Pollack

Projects (Energy & Resources) – Handel Lee

Funds/private equity – Jonathan Blake

Intellectual Property – Zhu Nongfan

Real estate – Bryan Pickup

Tax – Justin Cherrington

david.stevenson@legalease.co.uk