The march of US advisers into the City’s disputes scene continues with Latham & Watkins today (16 January) announcing the hire of two litigation partners from Hogan Lovells.
The London-based partners, Jon Holland and Andrea Monks, focus on financial services litigation and related regulatory work, two of the most in-demand practices areas currently.
Holland had been at Hogan Lovells for more than 30 years, most recently as co-head of its financial services litigation team, alongside the New York-based Marc Gottridge. Holland has advised banks and financial institutions on a series of high-profile disputes. He is also qualified in Hong Kong – where he worked for nearly four years – and in Australia, as well as being a solicitor advocate in the UK.
Monks has a particular focus on contentious regulatory investigations, and advises banks and corporates in the regulated sector on anti-money laundering matters. She also has substantial general disputes experience.
The hires underline the substantial investments that US-bred advisers have made in contentious work in London in the last five years, a drive underlined by this week’s announcement by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan that it dramatically increased its UK revenues during 2017.
While Latham has conducted more high profile recruitment in its City deal and leveraged finance practices, it has steadily expanded its UK disputes practice in recent years. Notably, Sophie Lamb, the arbitration star recruited in 2016 from Debevoise & Plimpton, last month became one of the youngest solicitors to ever become a QC in the latest silk round alongside fellow partner Philip Clifford.
‘Jon and Andrea have extensive experience in big-ticket litigation and are deeply connected to many of the City’s leading financial institutions,’ said Stuart Alford QC, co-chair of Latham’s litigation and trial department in London. ‘They are dynamic and entrepreneurial practice-builders and will add further strength to our litigation practice in London.’
Rich Trobman (pictured), vice chair of Latham, described the hires as ‘a further sign of our commitment to be the market-leading firm advising financial institutions on their most sophisticated transactions and complex disputes in Europe and globally’.
