Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s appointment of Herbert Smith Freehills’ (HSF’s) capital markets duo Steve Thierbach and Chris Haynes is an important step in building the firm’s English law transactional capability.
Thierbach, who was HSF’s global markets chief, is one of the City’s most established capital markets lawyers. His hire, along with corporate partner Haynes, comes as part of Gibson Dunn’s wider corporate play in London.
Gibson Dunn London corporate practice chair Charlie Geffen said: ‘The arrival of Chris and Steve is another important step in our ambition to grow a rounded English law transactional capability, offering the highest quality with a low associate leverage model, guaranteeing clients senior time and the expertise they need.’
The pair’s arrival will also strengthen Gibson Dunn’s finance coverage in the City and allows it to push on from its assault on Ashurst’s corporate practice last year, hiring Geffen, Mark Sperotto and Jonathan Earle.
For HSF, the departure of Thierbach and Haynes is a blow that dents its ambition of developing a stronger corporate brand with a steady depletion of the firm’s City capital markets team.
Jim Wickenden, who Thierbach succeeded as capital markets chief, departed for Allen & Overy in late 2012 and Alex Bafi, who sat on the firm’s partnership council, left at the start of 2015 to join Clifford Chance. These exits leave English-qualified Charles Howarth as HSF’s most senior capital markets partner at a time when US finance is increasingly being used to back European M&A.
‘The arrival of Chris and Steve is an important step in our ambition to grow a rounded English law transactional capability.’
Charlie Geffen, Gibson Dunn
US-qualified Thierbach joined HSF five years ago in a rare lateral hire from Linklaters, where he founded the Magic Circle firm’s US securities practice and subsequently led its US practice in London. He has mainly handled the banking side of capital markets mandates, rather than the corporate end, and has been instructed by a string of banks on recent IPOs.
Haynes, while a more junior partner, has built a strong reputation and was seen as Thierbach’s heir apparent for the head of capital markets role. He counts Barclays and Deutsche Bank as among his biggest clients, and handled Sky’s £1.4bn share issue as HSF represented the media firm on its acquisition of Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia for £7bn last year to create a pan-European pay-TV giant.
The departures preceded the exit of HSF’s London litigation head Tim Parkes, who it was announced last month will leave at the end of the year to take over as chair of the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s regulatory decisions committee.
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk