Revolving doors: new teams for DLA Piper and Dentons while IP specialists find new homes

Posted on |

Firms have launched new teams in Paris and Milan on the back of a strong week for European lateral recruitment, while both Ashurst and Eversheds Sutherland have bolstered their IP practices with hires in the UK.

In the City, Ashurst hired former Clyde & Co intellectual property (IP) head David Wilkinson for its London disputes team. Wilkinson has more than 20 years’ experience in disputes and transactions involving patents, copyright, designs and confidential information. Continue reading “Revolving doors: new teams for DLA Piper and Dentons while IP specialists find new homes”

A long time in law: DLA Piper hires SJ Berwin tax escapees from Reed Smith

Posted on |
A long time in law: DLA Piper hires SJ Berwin tax escapees from Reed Smith

A trio of tax partners who joined Reed Smith in a 17-partner move from collapsed legacy SJ Berwin have moved on again after little more than a year, joining DLA Piper.

DLA has hired Sylvie Vansteenkiste, Fanny Combourieu and Raphaël Béra from Reed Smith. The three tax partners came to Reed Smith in January last year after the US firm hired 50 fee-earners, including 17 partners, three counsel, 22 associates, one jurist, seven trainees and nine other support staff from the failed European arm of King & Wood Mallesons (KWM). The hiring spree was understood to represent the largest group of lawyers taken on by a firm in the wake of the collapse. Continue reading “A long time in law: DLA Piper hires SJ Berwin tax escapees from Reed Smith”

Revolving Doors: Akin Gump and King & Spalding boost London benches while international lateral hiring continues apace

Posted on |
Revolving Doors: Akin Gump and King & Spalding boost London benches while international lateral hiring continues apace

In a week dominated by European and international partner hires, US firms Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and King & Spalding were among four firms to add to their London benches with strategic additions in project finance and white-collar crime respectively.

After the coup of hiring former Financial Reporting Council (FRC) heavyweight Gareth Rees QC last September, King & Spalding has underscored its ambitions of being a serious corporate crime firm in London with the appointment of Aaron Stephens from Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP). Continue reading “Revolving Doors: Akin Gump and King & Spalding boost London benches while international lateral hiring continues apace”

US moves: Freshfields hires DoJ heavyweight while White & Case opens Houston office

Posted on |
US moves: Freshfields hires DoJ heavyweight while White & Case opens Houston office

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has enhanced its US antitrust bench with the hire of veteran Eric Mahr from the Department of Justice (DoJ), while White & Case has established its seventh American office in Houston.

Mahr, who joins Freshfields after serving as director of the well-respected antitrust division at the DoJ, has multiple decades’ worth of experience in antitrust litigation, including cartel follow-on litigation and merger disputes. Continue reading “US moves: Freshfields hires DoJ heavyweight while White & Case opens Houston office”

Can Freshfields limit the damage as Kirkland tempts PE heavyweight with $10m transfer?

Posted on |
Can Freshfields limit the damage as Kirkland tempts PE heavyweight with $10m transfer?

Nathalie Tidman assesses the fallout as M&A veteran quits an unsettled City giant

Even for a market grown blithe to big-name M&A partners quitting for the dollar, Kirkland & Ellis’s recruitment of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s David Higgins just before Christmas sent a jolt. Continue reading “Can Freshfields limit the damage as Kirkland tempts PE heavyweight with $10m transfer?”

Cadwalader takes multiple hits in London as Milbank and Brown Rudnick swoop in

Posted on |
Cadwalader takes multiple hits in London as Milbank and Brown Rudnick swoop in

It has been an expansive start of the year in terms of partner hires for a group of finance-focused US shops with tight London operations.

First Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft’s City restructuring practice was decimated by the departure of four partners to Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, led by global financial restructuring co-chair Yushan Ng, with Jacqueline Ingram, Karen McMaster and Sinjini Saha following him. McMaster and Ingram had already followed Ng in changing firms in 2013 from Linklaters, where they were associates. Saha was made partner when she joined Cadwalader from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in 2015.

Continue reading “Cadwalader takes multiple hits in London as Milbank and Brown Rudnick swoop in”

Revolving doors: Clyde & Co launches in Hamburg with four-partner Ince team

Posted on |
Revolving doors: Clyde & Co launches in Hamburg with four-partner Ince team

Germany has today (12 February) taken centre stage in the European lateral recruitment market with Clyde & Co announcing the launch of a new office in Hamburg on the back of a four-partner team hire from insurance and shipping rival Ince & Co.

Clyde will be launching its second German office after Düsseldorf later this year, with Ince’s former head of English law Daniel Jones and head of admiralty and energy Eckehard Volz. Continue reading “Revolving doors: Clyde & Co launches in Hamburg with four-partner Ince team”

Gibson Dunn finance veteran Gillespie departs for investment business as GC

Posted on |
Gibson Dunn finance veteran Gillespie departs for investment business as GC

City finance veteran Stephen Gillespie has left Gibson Dunn & Crutcher after three years to join international investment business  Letterone Holdings as its general counsel.

One of the biggest names in his field with more than 25 years’ experience at London’s most celebrated US and Magic Circle firms, Gillespie joined Gibson in December 2014 from Kirkland & Ellis as part of the LA-headquartered firm’s substantial push to bring on board heavyweight advisers for its London office, becoming co-chair of its global finance team. Continue reading “Gibson Dunn finance veteran Gillespie departs for investment business as GC”

Revolving doors: Fieldfisher secures Dentons IP veteran as A&O loses New York finance star to Mayer Brown

Posted on |

Last week saw a busy lateral recruitment market pick up again, with Fieldfisher and Mayer Brown making headline deals at the expense of Dentons and Allen & Overy (A&O).

Dentons’ former UK head of IP John Linneker is to join Fieldfisher after 13 years at the global giant. Continue reading “Revolving doors: Fieldfisher secures Dentons IP veteran as A&O loses New York finance star to Mayer Brown”

Milbank continues City hiring spree with Shearman high yield guru Gkoutzinis as Vinson nabs Jones Day finance partner

Posted on |
Milbank continues City hiring spree with Shearman high yield guru Gkoutzinis as Vinson nabs Jones Day finance partner

High-yield specialist Apostolos Gkoutzinis is to join Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy from US rival Shearman & Sterling, a move which marks the firm’s fifth hire in the space of a week.

The recruitment of Gkoutzinis, Shearman’s head of European capital markets, is another sign of Milbank’s ambitions to make its mark in City finance, coming just days after it secured a four-partner restructuring team from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft. Continue reading “Milbank continues City hiring spree with Shearman high yield guru Gkoutzinis as Vinson nabs Jones Day finance partner”