There is an international flavour to this week’s round-up, as a muted City market was offset by a flurry of movement on the global stage.
The headline London arrivals came at King & Spalding, which has welcomed partners Richard Kitchen and Amin Doulai into its corporate, finance and investments group. Both arrive from Paul Hastings and have significant experience in the private credit field, having advised on leveraged acquisition and corporate finance transactions.
Kitchen said: ‘King & Spalding is developing a dynamic and innovative international financing platform, especially in London and New York, which makes the firm an ideal destination for us. We share many common clients and undertake many of the similar high-end cross-border financing transactions. Amin and I are excited to be joining such a strong banking and finance practice where we will be able to put our clients’ needs first.’
Meanwhile, in Paris, DLA Piper has strengthened its corporate practice with the addition of partner Thomas Priolet, who joins from D’Ornano & Co. Experienced in private equity and M&A, Priolet’s arrival, along with two associates, is the latest move in DLA’s broader international drive to strengthen its private equity practice.
Speaking to Legal Business, DLA corporate co-chair Robert Bishop said: ‘Thomas has excellent pedigree, having spent a lot of time at one of the best firms in France, Bredin Prat, helping to build its private equity practice. He has since spent time honing his business development skills. Thomas’ arrival benefits both the firm and Thomas himself, as DLA Piper’s global platform allows him to expand his practice further.‘
The addition comes after the firm lost a four-partner Paris team to Shearman & Sterling in November 2021. On plans going forward, Bishop added: ‘Our private equity team is focused on growth. France is a key market for us in Europe. It’s no secret that we lost some people in Paris and we want to build back stronger. Thomas’ arrival is not the end of that project. There will be more to come.
‘The current market will generate opportunities. There will be a softening to some extent, as much down to geopolitical factors and macro-economics as to rising interest rates, but there is a lot of dry powder out there. The bottom won’t come out of the market.’
Across the Atlantic, Kirkland & Ellis has added investment funds partners John Reinert and Jina Yun to its Chicago team. They join from Kirkland’s G100 rival and the second highest-grossing law firm in the world, Latham & Watkins, where they were associates and previously worked under Nabil Sabki, who made the move across to Kirkland earlier this summer.
Sabki said: ‘John and Jina are exceptionally talented lawyers with significant experience advising clients on complicated regulatory matters affecting the asset management industry. I’m delighted to work with them both again as we serve our clients at Kirkland’s industry-leading private equity platform.’
Meanwhile, in New York, Arthur Long has joined Latham from Gibson Dunn as a partner in the corporate department. Primarily focusing on financial institution regulatory work, Long has experience of regulatory aspects of M&A and capital markets transactions; bank regulatory compliance issues; Dodd-Frank and Volcker Rule issues.
Rafal Gawlowski, co-chair of Latham’s financial institutions group, said: ‘Arthur is a fantastic addition to our globally integrated finreg and fintech team. His robust bank regulatory practice complements our global broker-dealer, derivatives, capital markets, commodities, and financial products practices, and he will be an asset to our clients facing rapid regulatory change and technological disruption.’
Finally, in Asia, DAC Beachcroft has continued its expansion in Singapore with two new partners. Summer Montague has joined from RPC and focuses on contentious insurance and reinsurance matters, while Andrew Robinson specialises in large-scale international financial lines and professional indemnity disputes, ESG and regulatory and compliance issues, having joined from DLA Piper.
Head of international business Gustavo Blanco said: ‘The economic and social growth of the Singapore and Southeast Asian market has been fast-paced and exponential in recent years, spurring a boom in insurance claims that have become increasingly complex, more frequent, higher value and higher profile. As such, Singapore is a key market for insurers, and to better meet their needs, we have plans to increase our presence significantly in Singapore and, more broadly, Asia.’
