Legal Business

Revolving doors: A&O makes New York push as DLA and Dentons add to European rosters

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Strategic recruitment Allen & OveryDentonsDLA Piper

It has been lively couple of weeks for lateral hires, with Allen & Overy (A&O) making a significant play in New York as a host of firms recruited across the continent.

Hot on the heels of rehiring financial services regulation head Bob Penn in June, A&O has hired M&A partner Stephen Besen in New York from Shearman & Sterling.

Besen has 35 years of experience advising clients on mergers, tender offers, joint ventures, restructuring and private equity transactions. He also has pedigree in cross-border transactions, in areas including China, India, Latin America and the Middle East.

Richard Browne, A&O’s global co-head of corporate, commented: ‘His depth of experience and insight is a great fit for our international practice and a significant addition for our clients.’

Hogan Lovells made the sole UK hire last week, bringing in Nicola Fulford as a partner in the firm’s London-based privacy and cybersecurity practice.

Fulford, who arrives from Kemp Little, has in-house experience from working at UBS, as well as secondments at Google and IBM.

Eduardo Ustaran, co-director of Hogan Lovells’ privacy and cybersecurity practice, told Legal Business that his division now numbers around 100 lawyers globally. He commented: ‘We were looking for a true expert in the field and someone who had been involved in working with tech companies. Nicola has these qualities and will be a great cultural fit for us.’

DLA Piper was particularly active in Europe, firstly hiring partner Pierre Berger and his seven-strong team of lawyers from Baker McKenzie in Antwerp. Berger and his team have expertise in sectors spanning financial services and insurance.

DLA also strengthened its benches in Germany, hiring corporate partner Roland Maass from Latham & Watkins to its Frankfurt office. Maass had been with the US heavyweight since 2006, with his practice predominantly focused on capital markets transactions. Outside of Europe, DLA hired corporate partner Yang Ge from Shearman & Sterling to its Beijing hub.

Also in Germany, Dentons boosted its real estate practice with the hire of René Dubois from European outfit Noerr. The arrival of Dubois, who will be based in Munich, means Dentons can now offer real estate advice from all three of its German offices: Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich.

Staying with Dentons, the firm also strengthened its Moscow base with the double partner hires of Vladimir Sokov and Sergey Klimenko from Russian firm Pepeliaev Group. Sokov is a corporate and M&A specialist while Klimenko will join Dentons as head of its Russian life sciences practice.

Finally, in France, King & Spalding has appointed a pair of partners to its Paris office. Laurent Bensaid, a corporate partner, has joined from Parisian outfit Hoche Avocats where he was co-head of the firm’s M&A department. Also arriving was Laurent Jaeger, an arbitration partner who joined from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

tom.baker@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Revolving Doors: Baker Botts takes Kirkland capital markets partner in Houston as Cooley adds tax partner and DLA makes litigation play in LA

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Strategic recruitment Baker BottsCooleyDLA Piper

City laterals stayed quiet last week continuing a recent hiatus while the US was the centre of attention internationally with DLA Piper, Baker Botts and Cooley all making hires across the Atlantic.

US laterals defined last week’s international recruitment round, with Baker Botts leading the way with a strategic hire from American powerhouse Kirkland & Ellis. Capital markets partner Justin Hoffman joined the firm in its Houston office, after spending two years as a partner at Kirkland.

Hoffman’s practice focuses on debt and equity capital market transactions, as well as corporate governance and compliance. Speaking to Legal Business, Hoffman explained the rationale for his move.

‘Baker Botts is a very established name in Houston. It has a very broad corporate practice, representing both issuers and underwriters. My practice is a perfect fit here.’

Moving to the West Coast, in Los Angeles Cooley further expanded its global tax practice with the hire of Alexander Lee from McDermott Will & Emery. Lee had previously spearheaded McDermott’s tax practice as a partner and focuses his practice on national and global transactional tax matters as well as private mergers and acquisitions.

‘Alexander’s deep knowledge of international transactional tax work further strengthens Cooley’s offerings for established industry giants and disruptive startups alike,’ said Mike Lincoln, chair of Cooley’s global business department. ‘Alexander has the wealth of experience needed to meet increasingly complex tax demands on large, cross-border deals.’

Rounding off the US moves, DLA also made a play in Los Angeles, announcing the hire of Levi Heath from Barnes & Thornburg where he had worked since 2011. As a partner at Barnes, Heath focused on civil and commercial litigation, including toxic tort and product liability defence. Heath will now boost the litigation capabilities of DLA on the West Coast where the firm has made a series of hires after completing a merger with Los Angeles-based boutique Liner last October.

Dentons meanwhile added to its Scottish bench with a hire in Glasgow, as Roddy Harrison joins the firm’s private client and charities team in the UK tax department. Harrison arrives at Dentons from BTO Solicitors where he headed the private client practice and was a partner for over 15 years. He has experience advising private clients and high net worth individuals on personal and business matters, including capital taxes planning and estate planning.

thomas.alan@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

DLA joins Brexit march to Dublin after finding the right kind of leader

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Europe DLA Piper

William Fry’s David Carthy will join the firm to head new office

The decision of DLA Piper to join a handful of other City and international firms that have opened a Dublin office in the last year was partly to do with the UK’s move to leave the EU, and partly not.

Legal Business

Deal View: DLA moves house in London but can it break free?

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Deal View DLA Piper

Shifting to an agile-working office is a peculiar experience. Two camps quickly emerge: those excited by change and colleagues happy with decades-old paper in a pile on their desk. It is unsettling, yet can galvanise a workforce.

DLA Piper is similarly moving into a bespoke, semi-open-plan office this year – its single-largest capital investment ever. The flagship London HQ unites 360 lawyers from two separate offices, a grand total of 633 steps down the road. A new environment will be embraced by many, but for some the gloss quickly wears off.

Legal Business

Sole-adviser relationships: Commitment issues

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In-house DLA PiperEversheds Sutherland

Commitment. Marriage. Honeymoon. Divorce. Conversations about single-supplier legal advisory mandates are rife with relationship-strewn analogies.

While no two arrangements are the same, most begin with a commitment from a company and its in-house legal team to reduce external legal spend and get a better handle on its multitude of legal connections.

Legal Business

Deal watch: Westfield GC exits for something ‘very different’ as takeover completes while DLA lands Poundworld administration role

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Corporate DLA Piper

Retail’s high street struggles are keeping advisers in the sector busy, as multiple firms took roles on the £18.5bn takeover of Westfield Corporation and DLA Piper took the lead on the administration of discount retailer Poundworld.

A host of firms across the globe advised as French property company, Unibail-Rodamco, completed its acquisition of shopping centre operator Westfield last week, in a deal first announced late last year. The combined $72bn entity owns and operates 102 shopping centres in 13 countries, the majority of which are in Europe and the US.

For Unibail-Rodamco, a group of firms including Darrois Villey Malliot Brochier, Allens, NautaDutilh, Shearman & Sterling, Clifford Chance and Capstan Avocats advised on the transaction. UK Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy (A&O) provided tax advice, led by London tax partner James Burton, alongside Dutch heavyweight Loyens & Loeff and French firm Lacourte Raquin Tatar.

Australia-headquartered Westfield was represented by King & Wood Mallesons (KWM), Skadden Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom, Greenberg Traurig and Debevoise & Plimpton. Sydney-based M&A partner Jason Watts led for KWM while London M&A partner Michael Goldberg headed Greenberg Traurig’s team. Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) and Greenwoods provided Australian tax advice.

The acquisition, completed 7 June, led to the departure of longstanding Westfield UK and Europe GC Leon Shelley (pictured), who had joined the company 13 years ago from Skadden. His role will be split in two, with deputy GC Amanda Beattie taking on the role of UK GC, while senior legal counsel Maurizio Redondi becomes head of legal in Italy.

Shelley told Legal Business it was natural for there to be changes with any acquisition, particularly when you are on the side being acquired. Senior Westfield executives Shelley admired had recently departed with the deal, including Australian billionaire and co-founder Frank Lowy, along with Lowy’s sons Steven and Peter. Shelley also points to group president and chief operating officer Michael Gutman, who he previously reported to and who has also since left the company.

‘It’s going to be a different company going forward. For me, it’s an opportunity to go and do something very different.’

Shelley said another from the 14-strong legal team, who he declined to name, was also departing. Shelley has received interest in taking other roles but planned to take the summer off before deciding on his next move.

‘I don’t want to rush this decision, and may even decide to do something outside the law. I want to do something that excites me.’

Elsewhere, the demise of another high street brand has seen DLA take the lead role advising Poundworld after it went into administration on Monday (11 June).

US private equity player TPG Capital acquired Poundworld in 2015 from its founder, Christopher Edwards, for £150m. The chain operates 335 stores from its head office in Normanton, West Yorkshire, with about 8,000 product lines including groceries, toiletries, cleaning and confectionary items mostly priced at £1. But about 5,100 jobs are now at risk after a buyer could not be found for the business, and Deloitte was appointed administrator.

A DLA team led by Leeds-based corporate restructuring partner Richard Obank is advising Poundworld. The retailer’s failure coincides with a string of other high-profile retail insolvencies, including toy superstore Toys R Us and high street electronics chain Maplin in February.

Deloitte administrator Clare Boardman commented: ‘The retail trading environment in the UK remains extremely challenging and Poundworld has been seeking to address this through a restructure of its business. Unfortunately, this has not been possible. We still believe a buyer can be found for the business or at least part of it and we are keeping staff appraised of developments as they happen.’

hamish.mcnicol@legalbusiness.co.uk

Legal Business

‘Very selective’: DLA goes to Freshfields for rare City corporate hire in wake of London losses

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Strategic recruitment DLA PiperFreshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

It has been something of a one-way street out of DLA Piper’s London office recently but the global giant believes it has filled a gap in its corporate practice with the hire of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer veteran Martin Nelson-Jones.

Nelson-Jones had been partner at Freshfields since 2001 and was previously the firm’s co-head of global infrastructure and transport. He specialises in M&A, particularly in the energy and infrastructure sectors. He first joined Freshfields in 1991.

DLA global corporate co-chair Bob Bishop told Legal Business that infrastructure had been a gap the corporate practice had been looking to fill with a senior hire. The firm was always looking to deepen its corporate bench, which has more than 20 partners, but its strategy in recent years was to focus on hires which added new expertise rather than just putting bums on seats.

‘We are keen to grow our London corporate group, but particularly in specialisms. One is infrastructure. We see a lot of investment coming into infrastructure globally. There’s a lot of money chasing a small number of assets.’

Bishop believes Nelson-Jones was attracted to DLA’s comparatively broader international platform, saying DLA was focused on global deals in a wide spectrum of sectors. The firm advised on the highest number of deals in Europe last year, according to Mergermarket statistics – the eighth consecutive year DLA has topped the rankings by volume.

Nelson-Jones’ hire comes amid a turbulent few months at DLA, who recently lost one of its brightest deal stars when Anu Balasubramanian left to lead Paul Hastings’ private equity team in London.

That blow followed a high-profile partner exodus to McDermott Will & Emery, which most recently saw the departure of City real estate trio Laurence Rogers, Neville Wright and Tom Calnan.

Bishop said it was a shame to see Balasubramanian leave but added he was confident the practice would continue to build, saying the market was ‘very buoyant’ with both significant, headline deals and large volumes overall.

Nelson-Jones is DLA’s eleventh partner hire in London in the past 18 months. Corporate laterals in the City have been hard to come by, however, with the most notable in recent years stretching back to private equity partner Tim Wright from KWM in mid-2014. The firm made up one partner in its corporate practice this year.

Bishop commented: ‘We continue to look to add people but we also want the right people. We’ve intentionally been very selective about what we will and won’t do.’

Meanwhile at Freshfields, Nelson-Jones’ departure comes after the high-profile loss of corporate heavyweight David Higgins to Kirkland & Ellis and the retirement of stalwart dealmaker Simon Marchant as London corporate head .

hamish.mcnicol@legalbusiness.co.uk

Legal Business

McDermott’s mass lawyer swoop casts shadow over DLA financial renaissance

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Strategic recruitment DLA PiperMcDermott Will & Emery

It has been a bumpy few months for DLA Piper. Just as the dust was settling following McDermott Will & Emery (MWE)’s 20-partner blitz on its US offices, the Chicago-based firm hired another three partners from DLA in London.

What a way to take some of the gloss off a turnaround in global turnover to back above $2.5bn, coupled with double-digit percentage growth in net profit, also announced in April.

Legal Business

DLA becomes latest firm to make post-Brexit Dublin move after lengthy consideration

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Strategic recruitment DLA Piper

DLA Piper has made good on a long-pondered office in Dublin as the firm eyes increased business in Ireland post-Brexit.

The firm said today (15 May) it was opening an office in Dublin with the hire of William Fry corporate partner David Carthy, who heads that firms foreign direct investment and life sciences and healthcare groups. He will lead DLA’s Dublin office, for which an opening date has not been confirmed.

Financial services, technology and life sciences will be a particular focus for DLA’s new office, with Dublin seen as a key global hub in those sectors. A year ago, the firm had downplayed speculation it was in the advanced stages of a Dublin launch.

DLA co-chief executive Simon Levine said the financial services, technology and tax sectors would only gain importance in Dublin given the context of Brexit, with the firm expecting more institutions to expand or develop presences there.

He commented: ‘We have been evaluating Dublin for some time and through consultation with our clients, a number of whom currently operate in Ireland or are looking to, and our partners have decided now is the right time for DLA Piper to enter the Irish market.’

DLA senior partner Andrew Darwin added: ‘We very much look forward to welcoming David to the firm where he will build our Dublin office as an integrated part of the global firm, providing first-rate legal and tax services to the firm’s clients operating in, expanding into or exporting from Ireland.’

Darwin told Legal Business: ‘Dublin was a market the firm had thought about for many years, without ever finding the right moment to move. Brexit had been the catalyst to take another look and was the additional dimension which tipped the balance of the Dublin business case.

DLA was already talking to more potential lateral hires and Darwin was confident the firm could attract more talent.

He added: ‘We only wanted to do it if we could find the right person. It’s taken quite a lot of effort and has been an interesting exercise getting to know the market a bit more.’

The firm has been actively hiring partners to its global tax practice, recruiting a trio of tax partners in Paris from Reed Smith earlier this year. It has also seen some high-profile departures, however, most recently losing three real estate partners in London to US firm McDermott Will & Emery.

DLA is the fifth firm to open in Dublin after the Brexit vote, following in the footsteps of Lewis Silkin, Simmons & Simmons, Covington & Burling and Pinsent Masons. Lewis Silkin was the most recent launch in March this year, while Pinsents was the first, post-Brexit referendum with its June 2017 launch, although it says the decision to open there was made before the UK voted to leave the EU.

hamish.mcnicol@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

DLA loses three real estate partners to McDermott in wake of 50-lawyer exodus

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Strategic recruitment DLA PiperMcDermott Will & Emery

McDermott Will & Emery is darkening DLA Piper’s door once more, with the hiring of another three partners, shortly after bringing in 20 partners from the firm’s US offices.

London-based DLA real estate partners Laurence Rogers, Neville Wright and Tom Calnan are leaving the firm to join McDermott. Rogers specialises in real estate finance, Wright in corporate tax for the finance and real estate sectors, and Calnan in commercial real estate. A DLA spokesperson confirmed the departures but said the firm had no further comment to make.

McDermott declined to comment on the departures.

Rogers and Wright were previously partners at legacy Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) before joining DLA in 2014, with Rogers formerly DLA’s UK head of real estate. Calnan, meanwhile, had been at the firm for little more than a year after joining from King & Wood Mallesons (KWM).

The trio’s loss comes quickly after McDermott brought in a team of 50 lawyers from DLA in the US, in a string of major moves touted as adding $100m revenue to its top line. The Chicago-based McDermott hired a four-partner real estate finance team led by DLA’s New York-based global co-chair of finance, Jeffrey Steiner, in late March, representing the third DLA practice group leader to join McDermott in a short time.

McDermott’s latest raid at DLA compounds a turbulent end to 2017 for the firm, most obvious in the departure of its esteemed senior partner and global co-chair Juan Picón to Latham & Watkins in Spain last November. DLA veteran Andrew Darwin was named his successor in February, following the firm’s first contested senior partner race in a decade.

In April, DLA said its global turnover had bounced back from last year’s drop with double-digit percentage growth in net profit. The firm’s global revenue was up 7% to $2.63bn in 2017, and net profit lifted 10% to $709m. Profit per equity partner (PEP) rose to $1.76m from last year’s $1.66m.

hamish.mcnicol@legalease.co.uk