Double blow for Magic Circle as US leaders Weil and Skadden secure M&A veterans

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Double blow for Magic Circle as US leaders Weil and Skadden secure M&A veterans

Leading US firms continue to dominate the London recruitment market with significant appointments from the Magic Circle, as Weil, Gotshal & Manges hired Linklaters’ highly-rated M&A partner David Avery-Gee (pictured) shortly after Allen & Overy (A&O) saw corporate pair Simon Toms and George Knighton jump ship to Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

The hire of Avery-Gee is a coup for Weil, which has struggled against more potent US rivals in recent years in London. The office has had setbacks in corporate, including the loss of London managing partner Mike Francies’ protégé Samantha McGonigle, who left after 13 years to co-found a growth fund in February. Continue reading “Double blow for Magic Circle as US leaders Weil and Skadden secure M&A veterans”

Significant hires

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Significant hires

Allen & Overy (A&O) suffered another significant loss with the departure of litigation partner Marc Florent to Baker McKenzie. Florent is experienced in banking disputes, particularly in the wholesale and retail banking areas, asset management, funds and sponsors on cross-border matters. A&O also lost its head of fraud Mona Vaswani to US rival Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy.

Alston & Bird launched a City branch, hiring three partners for its UK finance and payments practices. Andrew Petersen joins from K&L Gates where he was head of the finance practice, alongside fellow finance partner James Spencer. The pair have worked together on real estate private equity, commercial mortgage-backed securities deals, restructuring, and debt and equity workouts. James Ashe-Taylor, former head of European antitrust at US boutique Constantine Cannon, also joins the new City office. Continue reading “Significant hires”

Revolving doors: DLA wins back Proskauer real estate partner as Macfarlanes and Dentons make City hires

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Revolving doors: DLA wins back Proskauer real estate partner as Macfarlanes and Dentons make City hires

City lateral recruitment picked up pace again last week as DLA Piper won back a real estate partner from Proskauer Rose, Macfarlanes hired for its financial services team and Dentons strengthened its employment bench.

Joanne Owen rejoined her old firm DLA after a three and a half-year stint in Proskauer’s City corporate team, having previously worked at DLA for nearly 20 years. She advises on institutional and corporate property matters and cross-border corporate real estate transactions. She has acted for leading private equity houses, sovereign wealth funds and private high net worth investors. Continue reading “Revolving doors: DLA wins back Proskauer real estate partner as Macfarlanes and Dentons make City hires”

Freshfields secures trophy four-partner US deal team as debate over leadership continues

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Freshfields secures trophy four-partner US deal team as debate over leadership continues

In what it hopes will signal a breakthrough for its US business, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has secured the hire of a four-partner M&A team in Wall Street from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.

The hire of the team – led by prominent M&A veteran Ethan Klingsberg and including partners Meredith Kotler, Pamela Marcogliese and Paul Tiger – will be seen as a trophy acquisition for Freshfields’ US corporate offering, which has struggled to gain momentum in recent years. Continue reading “Freshfields secures trophy four-partner US deal team as debate over leadership continues”

A&O’s transatlantic woes continue as New York leveraged finance pair quit for Shearman

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A&O’s transatlantic woes continue as New York leveraged finance pair quit for Shearman

Allen & Overy (A&O) has suffered a fresh blow to its transatlantic aspirations following its failed US merger as two key leveraged finance partners depart for Shearman & Sterling.

Alan Rockwell and Michael Chernick are leaving A&O’s New York office for the US firm just a month after A&O lost well-respected London corporate partners Simon Toms and George Knighton to Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. That blow came only 10 days after the Magic Circle firm’s long-winded merger talks with O’Melveny & Meyers came to nothing and was widely viewed as collateral damage from the failed tie-up. Continue reading “A&O’s transatlantic woes continue as New York leveraged finance pair quit for Shearman”

Revolving doors: Former Quinn white collar head sets up City boutique as Shearman and HFW make Paris corporate plays

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Revolving doors: Former Quinn white collar head sets up City boutique as Shearman and HFW make Paris corporate plays

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan’s former white-collar crime and corporate investigations head in London Robert Amaee has launched a boutique – Amaee Law – in what has been a muted week for City laterals.

Elsewhere, firms have bolstered their European offices with Shearman & Sterling and HFW hiring corporate partners in Paris and Watson Farley & Williams adding to its employment bench in Munich. Continue reading “Revolving doors: Former Quinn white collar head sets up City boutique as Shearman and HFW make Paris corporate plays”

Joining the club: Eversheds hires Hong Kong litigation partner from Slaughters

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Joining the club: Eversheds hires Hong Kong litigation partner from Slaughters

Eversheds Sutherland has recruited Slaughter and May litigation partner Mark Hughes in a rare departure for the Magic Circle firm.

Hughes acts on litigation cases in Hong Kong as well as the wider Asia-Pacific market, while also acting on international arbitration matters and cross-border investigations by criminal and regulatory authorities. Continue reading “Joining the club: Eversheds hires Hong Kong litigation partner from Slaughters”

Big deal: Weil makes symbolic London play with hire of Linklaters M&A star Avery-Gee

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Big deal: Weil makes symbolic London play with hire of Linklaters M&A star Avery-Gee

In a rare marquee hire for Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Linklaters M&A star David Avery-Gee (pictured) is joining the US firm’s City office.

The hire is a standout move for Weil, which has failed to gain meaningful traction on lofty ambitions to bolster its corporate practice in London to support the office’s managing partner, Mike Francies, who has been acting for some time as the firm’s chief M&A practitioner. Continue reading “Big deal: Weil makes symbolic London play with hire of Linklaters M&A star Avery-Gee”

Bakers makes eleventh City lateral in last year with Ashurst corporate hire

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Bakers makes eleventh City lateral in last year with Ashurst corporate hire

Ashurst’s global head of corporate Jason Radford (pictured) is unfazed by the loss to Baker McKenzie’s prolific City hiring spree of corporate partner Nick Bryans and has pledged a sustained investment drive to maintain the firm’s recent financial rebound.

An Ashurst-lifer and partner since 2005, Bryans is joining the London office of Bakers. He follows ten other laterals the expansive firm has made already in London over the last year. He was head of the Ashurst’s Middle East practice in Dubai from 2007 to 2010 and a member of the firm’s Japanese practice group. Continue reading “Bakers makes eleventh City lateral in last year with Ashurst corporate hire”

Revolving doors: US players dominate lateral recruitment as Alston & Bird opens City branch

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Revolving doors: US players dominate lateral recruitment as Alston & Bird opens City branch

US firms led the way with lateral hires in London last week, with Alston & Bird launching a City branch. The Atlanta-based Global 100 firm has hired three partners for its UK finance and payments practices.

Andrew Petersen joins from K&L Gates, where he was head of the finance practice and is joined by fellow finance partner James Spencer. Petersen and Spencer have worked together for more than 17 years and handle a range of transactions related to real estate private equity, commercial mortgage-backed securities, restructuring, and debt and equity workouts. They are joined by competition partner and payments industry specialist James Ashe-Taylor from Constantine Cannon where he was head of its European antitrust practice. Continue reading “Revolving doors: US players dominate lateral recruitment as Alston & Bird opens City branch”