Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has demonstrated that US firms in the City are not the only ones to be making high-profile partner hires, announcing the recruitment of respected Shearman & Sterling partner and head of global project development and finance Tim Pick in April.
The arrival of Pick, described as ‘outstanding in all respects’ in the latest edition of The Legal 500, is a significant appointment for Freshfields. He will join as a finance partner in London and will focus on advising clients in the energy and natural resources sector in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Laurie McFadden, co-head of Freshfields’ international energy and natural resources group, said: ‘It is relatively rare for our firm to engage in a lateral hire in the London market. Tim’s joining us is an excellent opportunity to further add to our global energy projects offering – his energy projects and finance skills as well as his considerable experience in the Middle East and Africa, in addition to Europe, will help us to meet the demand we are seeing from our clients in those areas. We expect this demand to continue to grow for the foreseeable future in order to meet the long-term energy needs the world is facing.’
Freshfields has made a handful of significant hires in recent years, notably current head of international energy project finance, Alan Rae Smith from Allen & Overy in 2010. It also made a string of lateral hires to its energy practice in Asia last year. The firm recruited Allens partner Gavin MacLaren in South-East Asia; Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy partner Mark Plenderleith in Tokyo and former Dewey & LeBoeuf Beijing partner Gang Yuan as head of energy and natural resources in China.
Pick joined former firm Shearman 14 years ago – six years of which were spent working in Abu Dhabi from 2003. He made partner in 2005 and was named head of international project development and finance in 2011.