After an eventful week and with many lawyers working from home until further notice, City firms and US rivals continue to ramp up hires as Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, Taylor Wessing and Pinsent Masons all made hires in London.
Orrick appointed a four-partner team to its energy and infrastructure practice in London from Watson Farley & Williams. The team includes energy and infrastructure partners Evan Stergoulis, Simon Alsey and Ravinder Sandhu, as well as real estate partner Simon Folley. Stergoulis will co-head the firm’s global renewables practice.
The team advises investors on mergers and acquisitions, project development and financings involving offshore wind, onshore renewable energy and gas and power projects in the UK, Europe and Asia.
Orrick’s energy and infrastructure sector lead Blake Winburne told Legal Business: ‘London is an incredibly important market for our energy & infrastructure practice. Our strategy in London is to field a team of highly-collaborative, market-recognised practitioners that connect with our global platform. We have certainly achieved that objective with the team led by Evan Stergoulis and we will continue to invest in our global practice with that same strategic objective.’
Meanwhile, Taylor Wessing recruited employment partner Helen Farr to its London office. Farr joined from Fox Williams and advises on financial and professional services, private equity and FinTech with a focus on workplace discrimination, equal pay, team moves and boardroom disputes.
Executive board member and partner James Goold told Legal Business: ‘Helen’s appointment enhances our employment offering by bringing together experience in the financial and professional services sectors. She is known for her advice on strategic matters, TUPE and boardroom disputes, and her expertise in FinTech also complements our sector focus on technology. The continued growth of our international employment capability is essential and Helen is an important part of our offering.’
Elsewhere, Pinsents added Totis Kotsonis from Eversheds Sutherland to lead the firm’s state aid and public procurement team within its competition, EU and trade group in London. Kotsonis acts on compliance and contentious matters, including litigation, in national courts and the Court of Justice of the EU.
Head of competition, EU & trade Alan Davis told Legal Business: ‘Totis’ experience across the energy, TMT, infrastructure and transport markets aligns well with the firm’s sector expertise. His experience working across public procurement and state aid matters, both contentious and non-contentious, strengthens our capabilities and offering to clients.
‘The demand for procurement and state aid advice in the UK will increase. Totis’ expertise will enable us to respond to the rapidly changing requirements of the government as it manages the existing procurement and state aid regimes and develops new policy and legislation in a post-Brexit era,’ Davis added.
Pinsents also hired in Paris, appointing project finance partner Eran Chvika from Norton Rose Fulbright. Chvika advises banks, international financial institutions, sponsors, investment funds and developers on domestic and cross-border complex financing and acquisition transactions in France and Francophone Africa.
Elsewhere, McDermott Will & Emery hired commercial litigation partners Josh Simon, Warren Haskel and Dmitriy Tishyevich to its healthcare litigation practice in New York.
Global head of McDermott’s litigation practice group, David Rosenbloom, said: ‘Josh, Warren and Dmitriy are all precisely that kind of lawyer – they understand the ever-changing health law and regulatory landscape and are well equipped to respond to complex matters, even before they result in litigation. The foresight and synergy between the members of this group already exists, and we look forward to advancing that using the McDermott platform.’
Finally, in an unusual departure for Slaughter and May, corporate partner Susannah Macknay left the firm’s London office to join the Sydney office of Australian firm Gilbert + Tobin. Macknay joined Slaughters in 2007 and became a partner in 2014. She acts for corporate and private equity clients on public and private M&A and equity capital market transactions.
