Olswang has suffered a double exit with its co-head of life sciences departing the firm in favour of Clifford Chance, while Bond Dickinson has appointed another partner from the tech firm as its head of funds.
IP partner Stephen Reese joined Olswang in 2002, advising on contentious and non-contentious intellectual property matters. Reese will leave to join Clifford Chance’s corporate practice as City firms continue to reinvigorate their IP practices.
During his time as co-head, Reese co-led the team advising shareholders of Convergence Pharmaceuticals on its acquisition by US biotechnology company Biogen for up to $675m. He also advised mobile commerce enabler MoPowered on its admission to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market, which had a market capitalisation of approximately £15.8m on admission.
Allen & Overy (A&O) has also recently bulked up its IP offering, taking a further two IP partners from Simmons & Simmons, the third and fourth IP partner A&O have taken this year from the firm.
Meanwhile, Bond Dickinson has hired Olswang funds and regulatory partner Barry Stimpson.
Stimpson joined Bond Dickinson in July and has spent the past two months working as a consultant for Olswang as he transferred over to UK national firm.
Specialising in investment funds, joint ventures and limited liability partnerships, Stimpson joins Bond Dickinson with 26 years of legal experience. Joining Linklaters in 1987, Stimpson had a brief stint as an investment banking executive joining UBS in 1989 before signing on as partner at Blake Morgan in 1992. Since that time, Stimpson has been a partner at Squire Patton Boggs, RPC and DAC Beachcroft before joining Olswang in 2016 as a corporate partner.
Head of corporate at the firm Stephen Pierce said: ‘[Stimpson] is another excellent addition to our corporate finance team and strengthens our existing national practice, allowing us to nurture existing client relations, and, opening up opportunities for us to expand our current client network.’
Rumoured to be in merger talks with CMS Cameron McKenna, Olswang is said to be ripe for a merger after the firm saw an 11% drop in its turnover for the 2015/16 financial year with revenues falling by £14.2m to £112.5m. Its profits per equity partner (PEP) remained steady at £490,000.
madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk
