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Recruitment drive for Cadwalader in London reaps double Mayer Brown hire

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft’s efforts to rebuild its London finance team were today rewarded with the hire of two leading Mayer Brown structured finance partners to boost its City offering.

Former Mayer Brown finance and banking practice head Bruce Bloomingdale joins the 435-lawyer firm today (18 September) alongside Chicago banking and finance partner Jeremiah Wagner, who has been on secondment to Mayer Brown’s London office.

Bloomingdale qualified in the US and has experience of working in both London and New York, advising financial institutions and corporates on cross-border securitisations, leveraged finance and asset-backed lending. He headed Mayer Brown’s finance practice in London between 2008 and 2010, before being succeeded by current chief Dominic Griffiths.

The recruitment is a significant development in Cadwalader’s drive to rebuild its structured finance group after seven of its partners left to join Paul Hastings back in 2009. Including the recent hires, Cadwalder’s London headcount has now hit 12.

Partner and co-chair of Cadwalader’s capital markets practice, Patrick Quinn said: ‘The addition of Bruce and Jeremiah and their asset backed expertise to our UK structured finance team builds on the strength we enjoy in commercial mortgage backed securities, CDOs, CLOs and other structured and securitized product and enhances our ability to support clients in the fast re-emerging European structured finance and credit markets.’

For Mayer Brown, meanwhile, the departures come after the top 25 global 100 firm earlier this month lost finance partner Angela Hayes, who joined King & Spalding to launch its London financial services regulatory practice.

Griffiths commented: ‘Bloomingdale and I have a long history of working together. Wagner was on secondment to the London office from Chicago until the end of the year. It’s disappointing they have left but we have plans to continue building our structured finance team.’

The 1536-lawyer firm has 48 lawyers in its finance and banking practice at present and Griffiths confirmed the firm has plans to grow its structured finance group in London. ‘It has been our intention for some time to add more lawyers to support client demand in this area,’ he added.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk