It has been a busy week for White & Case, with the firm seeing the return of Patrick Sarch to its global mergers and acquisitions practice in London. He will be head of UK public M&A in the London corporate/ M&A group.
Sarch worked at White & Case between January 2017 and March 2021, moving to Hogan Lovells in March 2021, where he was co-head of the firms UK M&A practice. He advises on corporate finance, cross-border, and domestic public company M&A.
The firm has also strengthened its global debt finance practice with the addition of Lauren Winter as a partner. Winter moves from Shearman & Sterling and has worked previously at Paul Hastings and Allen & Overy. Specialising in cross-border and UK acquisition finance and restructuring, Winter advises on syndicated cov-lite financings, second lien loan financings, unitranche financing, super-senior revolving credit facility and high yield bond financings.
Speaking to Legal Business about her move, Winter said: ‘I’m excited to join White & Case and its strong and established debt finance team in London and the wider EMEA region. White & Case has built an outstanding, broad finance practice that spans bank lending, private credit and borrower finance, which is an ideal fit with the focus of my practice advising investment banks, alternative credit providers, corporate borrowers and private equity sponsors on a variety of acquisition financings and restructurings.’
Meanwhile, in Germany the firm has hired competition partner Ingo Brinker to its global antitrust practice. He will be based in Düsseldorf and moves from Gleiss Lutz. He advises on investigations, merger control, compliance programmes and litigation before the European Commission, the European Court of Justice, the European General Court and the German Federal Cartel Office and the German antitrust courts.
Elsewhere, CMS has bolstered its real estate team in London with the appointment of partner Rebecca Moore. Moore specialises in the private rented sector and affordable living sector, with her client base spanning residential funds, institutional clients, and developers. She moves from BCLP.
‘When I was considering a move, I knew I wanted to go to a top-ranked firm for real estate. The direction of my career over the last few years has been focused on the private rental sector and affordable housing. My clients are mainly institutional funds looking for a full-package legal service, so I was looking for a firm that didn’t just have a real estate offering. I knew that CMS had a focus on real estate but also had expertise across all sectors. It was clear to me that I would be working in a key strategic area for CMS,’ Moore told Legal Business.
CMS has built out its UK real estate practice over the past year with several new partner appointments including Barry Edgar, Michael Buchanan, Melanie Hughes, Helen Johnson, Helen Balliger, and David Hardy.
Rosenblatt has launched an international arbitration practice headed by Leonardo Carpentieri and Sara Paradisi. Carpentieri moves from international arbitration boutique LMS Legal and advises on commercial and treaty arbitration matters, with a client base that spans the energy, infrastructure, engineering, mining, hospitality, financial services, and construction sectors. Meanwhile, Paradisi joins from BCLP and specialises in contentious construction and international arbitration relating to construction, engineering, infrastructure, and mining projects.
‘We are really excited about this venture and joining Rosenblatt. It is a tremendous opportunity for us as a duo. We come from similar backgrounds, but we have our own diverse experiences. Sara has spent a few years in Asia and focuses on that region, while my practice is more focused on the Middle East,’ Carpentieri told Legal Business.
‘In terms of the Rosenblatt brand, the very appealing thing is we are not just joining its disputes arm, we are joining a full-service firm, which is ranked successfully in other areas such as corporate and real estate. That’s obviously going to be useful as we expand,’ Paradisi explained.
Simmons & Simmons has appointed data centre and real estate specialist Barry Gross as a partner. Gross also moves from BCLP and will join Simmons’ multidisciplinary data centre team. His practice focuses on new developments and leasing, mergers and acquisitions, sales and financing, with a particular specialism in data centres.
Elsewhere, Bracewell has hired Mark Hunting, who joins the firm’s disputes team in its London office. As a qualified solicitor-advocate, Hunting specialises in internal and external investigations, business-related criminal and regulatory matters such as bribery and money laundering, financial institution trading regulations and financial and trade sanctions. He moves from BP where he was managing counsel for competition and regulatory compliance.
In international moves, Paul Hastings has appointed M&A partner Nikolaos Paschos to its Frankfurt office. He moves from Latham & Watkins and will chair the German M&A practice. His clients include TeamViewer, Brenntag and Allianz.
