Firms began their Christmas shopping in earnest last week, with LB100 pacesetter Fieldfisher strengthening its energy practice while Pinsent Masons recruited in structured finance and King & Spalding enhanced its City corporate practice.
Meanwhile, TLT made a hire in the regions as Bird & Bird and Dentons made moves abroad.
There were signs of a pre-Christmas pick up in the City lateral market last week with Greenberg Traurig the leader following a double hire from US counterparts Ropes & Gray.
Gowling WLG, meanwhile, made a significant London hire to its planning and environment practice as Bates Wells Braithwaite (BWB) brought in a team from Pennington Manches. Continue reading “Revolving Doors: Greenberg capitalises on Ropes & Gray’s real estate cutback as Gowling and BWB make City moves”
Regional player Shakespeare Martineau and national firm Shoosmiths have both implemented change at the top with the appointments of new chief executives.
Shakespeares made a rare leadership hire from another firm, bringing on Browne Jacobson chief operating officer Sarah Walker-Smith (pictured) as chief executive. Walker-Smith replaces long-serving chief executive Andy Raynor, who announced his intention to step down earlier this year, at the Midlands firm. Continue reading “Changing of the guard at Shakespeares and Shoosmiths with CEO appointments”
Following the hires of CMS real estate heavyweights Alan Karsberg and Simon Kanter last month, Fladgate has added to the blow, with the duo now bringing across an eight-lawyer team in London.
Both partners were veterans of legacy Olswang, with Kanter joining the firm in 2006 after Olswang’s acquisition of Kanter Jules. Meanwhile Karsberg enjoyed two stints at Olswang, starting as a solicitor at the firm in 1999 before a spell in-house at Merrill Lynch. He re-joined Olswang in 2004. Continue reading “‘Client conflict issues’ sees 10-strong CMS real estate team decamp to Fladgate”
In a significant blow to Clifford Chance’s M&A practice, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has enticed private equity star Amy Mahon to its London office.
Mahon, who emerged as the most widely-cited female partner for private equity in Legal Business’ Alphas feature earlier this year, has been acknowledged by her peer group as ‘the most visible woman at Clifford Chance’ . Continue reading “Hello from the other side: CC private equity star Mahon to join Simpson Thacher”
White & Case’s City hiring spree continues to go great guns with the recruitment of Weil Gotshal & Manges’ well-regarded head of banking, Mark Donald.
Donald has been at Weil for six years, taking on the head of banking role vacated by Stephen Lucas when he left for Kirkland & Ellis in 2014. Before Weil, Donald had spent 15 years at Hogan Lovells. Continue reading “‘Real fire power’: Weil loses banking head to White & Case’s unrelenting hiring spree”
The first signs of a late-autumn slowdown in City laterals emerged last week with Eversheds Sutherland making the only significant hire in London, strengthening its corporate practice. Meanwhile, DLA Piper bolstered its litigation offering in Madrid in a slightly busier international round and Ashurst landed a partner at the expense of White & Case in Abu Dhabi.
Eversheds added to its corporate bench with the hire of Stewart Womersley from Addleshaw Goddard’s funds and indirect real estate team. Womersley had been a partner at Addleshaw Goddard for over four years, and focused on corporate real estate transactions and joint ventures. Womersley will now join a cross-department team at Eversheds that covers real estate, tax, funds and banking. Continue reading “Revolving Doors: Eversheds makes City corporate play as DLA and Ashurst announce international hires”
There were a number of lateral hires in the London last week, with Stephenson Harwood, Ropes & Gray and Osborne Clarke all strengthening their City benches. Meanwhile internationally HFW bucked the recent trend of downsizing in the Middle East with a senior hire from Bird & Bird.
Stephenson Harwood’s hire came in its energy group as the firm secured partner Marc Hammerson from Akin Gump. Hammerson returns to Stephenson Harwood having been a partner at the firm between 2006 and 2011, bringing back his experience in advising on upstream, midstream and downstream oil and gas and infrastructure projects. Continue reading “Revolving Doors: Stephenson Harwood and Ropes make moves in a busy City recruitment round as HFW expands in Abu Dhabi”
After years of internal debate Kirkland & Ellis is to launch in Paris with the hire of one of Linklaters’ key corporate partners.
In a market largely defined by star individuals, Vincent Ponsonnaille has quit the Magic Circle firm alongside fellow corporate partner Laurent Victor-Michel to spearhead the launch of Kirkland’s second outpost on the continent. Continue reading “World’s top-billing law firm Kirkland finally makes Paris debut with Linklaters corporate duo”
