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

Legal Business

Back on track: DLA Piper revenue rebounds past $2.6bn as 62 lawyers make partner

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Financial results 2017 DLA Piper

DLA Piper has bounced back from last year’s global turnover drop with double-digit percentage growth in net profit and promoted 62 lawyers to its partnership.

The firm’s global revenue rose to $2.63bn in 2017, up 7% on last year when turnover dipped below $2.5bn because of exchange rate fluctuations across its international business, which is divided between an international LLP and a US LLP.

In January, DLA added £75.5m to its international LLP’s top line on the back of exchange rate movement –  accounting for 69% of the international revenue improvement for the year ending 30 April 2017.

Total lawyer numbers dipped slightly to 3,609 from 3,615, having dropped by 140 the year previous. Revenue per lawyer at the firm rose 7% to $729,824, while net profit at was up 10% to $709m. Profit per equity partner (PEP) also rose to $1.76m from last year’s $1.66m – a 6% lift.

DLA also announced its latest partnership promotion round today (4 April), making up 62 lawyers across the US, UK, Canada, Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Australia and South Africa. Women made up 20 of the promotions, while ten promotions were in the UK, including eight in London – although none in its around 100-lawyer Leeds office. Litigation and regulatory added 16 promotions, corporate 14, and tax and finance and projects both had eight.

DLA’s financial results and partnership promotions came as McDermott Will & Emery  brought in a team – including more than 20 partners – from DLA Piper’s US offices, in a string of major moves touted as adding $100m in revenue to its top line.

The US departures compound a turbulent end to 2017 for DLA Piper, with the firm losing its esteemed senior partner and global co-chair Juan Picón to Latham & Watkins in Spain. In February, it named veteran Andrew Darwin as its new senior partner after Picón’s departure sparked the firm’s first contested election in a decade.

hamish.mcnicol@legalease.co.uk

DLA Piper promotions in the UK 

London
Chris Arnold, corporate
Joel Cooper, tax
Randall Fox, tax
Steven Krivinskas, finance and projects
Christina Lawrence, litigation and regulatory
Kelly Lovegrove, tax
Peter Lowe, real estate
Bryony Robottom, finance and projects

Birmingham
Phillip Kelly, litigation and regulatory

Sheffield
Alastair Clough, litigation and regulatory

 

Legal Business

In-house: CMS breaks new Crown Estate ground as Heineken UK and DLA toast another two years

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In-house CMS UKDLA Piper

The legal adviser overhaul of £13bn real estate business The Crown Estate by general counsel (GC) Rob Booth continues with CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang picking up a sole legal provider mandate for the estate’s £2.5bn regional retail portfolio. Meanwhile, DLA Piper has won another two years as principal legal adviser to Heineken UK.

CMS’s appointment with The Crown Estate, announced Monday (March 12), covers work including asset management, development, sales and purchases for its regional portfolio, which comprises 14 shopping and retail parks, three shopping centres and one leisure destination. It is the first time the firm has secured a role on the panel.

CMS partners Ciaran Carvalho, John Cumpson, Sarah Meldrum, Marie Scott, Karen Clarke and Marcus Barclay led the pitch on behalf of the firm’s teams in London and Sheffield. Carvalho said: ‘We are absolutely thrilled to have won this significant mandate after a highly competitive pitch. The Crown Estate takes a long-term view of real estate, and we see this as the start of a strong and lasting relationship, extending over the course of this mandate and, we hope, well beyond.’

The Crown Estate is governed by an Act of Parliament and returns all of its profits to Treasury, worth £2.6bn in the last decade. Booth told Legal Business legal spend is worth between £10m and £15m annually. On CMS’ appointment, Booth (pictured) commented: ‘We were impressed with the offering CMS put together. There is a strong sense of innovation and collaboration in the future of our partnership with them.’

Booth’s appointment to GC in May 2016, replacing Vivienne King, was coupled with an announcement the estate would overhaul its sets of legal advisers. Since then, LB 100 firms Hogan Lovells  and Womble Bond Dickinson  were awarded the mandate for the energy, minerals and infrastructure portfolio in February last year, while Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) secured the jewel-in-the-crown £7bn central London property mandate a month earlier.

Elsewhere, a principal legal adviser relationship between DLA Piper and the UK arm of global beer and cider producer Heineken has been extended another two years. DLA was first appointed to the role in 2015 on an initial three-year term, covering property, litigation, IP, corporate and employment law.

DLA IP and technology partner John McKinlay, who is based in Edinburgh and manages the relationship, said the renewal is the best testament to the success of the arrangement. The firm is advising on a broader range of work and has gained a better understanding of Heineken UK through secondees and other investments.

‘That’s the great win-win of these relationships… it’s a very significant account for the firm.’

A key piece of work was advising on Heineken’s £403m acquisition of a portfolio of around 1,900 UK pubs owned by Punch Taverns last summer, which the beer giant bid for alongside Patron Capital.

DLA also has a similar agreement with Merlin Entertainments, following its appointment as primary supplier for global construction as well as UK commercial, property and HR work in January last year.

Last week, listed infrastructure group Balfour Beatty extended and revamped its sole supplier partnership with Pinsent Masons, which also has a single-supplier mandate with energy giant E.ON for a five-year term. Other high-profile sole-supplier deals include Eversheds Sutherland with Tyco and Turkish Airlines.

hamish.mcnicol@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Revolving doors: new teams for DLA Piper and Dentons while IP specialists find new homes

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Strategic recruitment DentonsDLA Piper

Firms have launched new teams in Paris and Milan on the back of a strong week for European lateral recruitment, while both Ashurst and Eversheds Sutherland have bolstered their IP practices with hires in the UK.

In the City, Ashurst hired former Clyde & Co intellectual property (IP) head David Wilkinson for its London disputes team. Wilkinson has more than 20 years’ experience in disputes and transactions involving patents, copyright, designs and confidential information.

Ashurst global head of IP Lisa Ritson said Wilkinson’s broad expertise in the area would be a valuable addition to its offering. The firm’s disputes head, Simon Bromwich, added that the firm was developing its IP practice with an immediate focus in London: ‘David’s expertise in covering both contentious and non-contentious work in a broad range of areas is also a perfect complement to our existing international IP capabilities.’

Also in IP, Eversheds Sutherland brought back Rupert Bent for his second stint at the firm, based in Birmingham. Bent was most recently the head of IP at Leeds stalwart Walker Morris, and was previously a senior associate at Eversheds Sutherland for nearly a decade. The firm’s head of IP and media, Neil Mohring, said Bent would enhance its IP capability. Bent added: ‘I’m very pleased to be re-joining the team as a partner and very much look forward to the challenges ahead.’

Osborne Clarke, meanwhile, announced former Thrings partner and Bristol office head Colin Stratton would join its real estate team from May this year. Stratton specialises in commercial and residential development work, as well as acting for the public sector. Also in the UK, Bristol-headquartered Burges Salmon added to its corporate tax team with the appointment of Sarah Lane, who has previous experience at KPMG and EY, and was most recently managing director of FTI Consulting.

Further afield, DLA Piper launched a fund offering in Paris with the hire of corporate partner Benjamin Aller from asset management consultancy MJ Hudson. The move follows the hiring of tax partners Sylvie Vansteenkiste, Fanny Combourieu and Raphaël Béra, also in Paris, from Reed Smith: the trio had joined that firm as part of a 17-partner move from collapsed legacy SJ Berwin at the start of 2017.

Aller has more than two decades’ experience advising on private investment funds and related transactions, and has advised on several hundred fund of fund investments throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. DLA global corporate co-chair Bob Bishop said Aller’s hire, when aligned with the tax team, meant the firm could go to market with a funds offering in France.

‘This builds out DLA Piper’s global funds practice and is highly complementary to our existing transactional private equity team in Paris. That team has made great progress over the last few years and our new recruits will help move us to the next level.’

Elsewhere on the continent, Dentons launched a white collar and investigations team in Italy with the hire of Armando Simbari, who will be based in Milan and joins from Dinoia Federico Pelanda Simbari Uslenghi. Bird & Bird appointed experienced M&A lawyer Jan Byström as partner in Stockholm, where he joins from his own boutique transactional firm. And DWF hired Vassilis Akritidis in Brussels from McGuireWoods, to lead on international trade and WTO issues.

hamish.mcnicol@legalbusiness.co.uk

Legal Business

A long time in law: DLA Piper hires SJ Berwin tax escapees from Reed Smith

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Strategic recruitment DLA Piper

A trio of tax partners who joined Reed Smith in a 17-partner move from collapsed legacy SJ Berwin have moved on again after little more than a year, joining DLA Piper.

DLA has hired Sylvie Vansteenkiste, Fanny Combourieu and Raphaël Béra from Reed Smith. The three tax partners came to Reed Smith in January last year after the US firm hired 50 fee-earners, including 17 partners, three counsel, 22 associates, one jurist, seven trainees and nine other support staff from the failed European arm of King & Wood Mallesons (KWM). The hiring spree was understood to represent the largest group of lawyers taken on by a firm in the wake of the collapse.

Reed Smith also hired competition and antitrust partners Marc Lévy and Natasha Tardif, as well as corporate and private equity partners Guilain Hippolyte and Pierre-Louis Périn in Paris alongside the tax trio.

DLA Piper global co-chair of tax Roderik Bouwman said the lateral hires showed the firm’s commitment to growing its global tax practice, commenting: ‘We continue to see a very high demand for advice in this area and the new team has an outstanding reputation as tax specialists. Their combined expertise complements that of our existing team and enhances our integrated tax offering for our clients.’

Reed Smith Europe and Middle East managing partner Tamara Box said the Paris office has grown from 45 lawyers to almost 70, and that 2017 was one of the office’s busiest years: ‘It’s always disappointing to see good people leave the business and we certainly wish our former partners well.’

At the time of the hires, Box had said the partners had been independent during the process, with some pursuing opportunities at other firms. ‘We believe every single partner had other offers, and in most cases multiple offers,’ she said.

hamish.mcnicol@legalease.co.uk

 

Legal Business

DLA whittles senior partner race to three-way contest as elections grip the City

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Leadership DLA Piper

Hamish McNicol looks at the frontrunners amid a bumper season of senior leadership changes

DLA Piper is making up for lost time in its first senior partner election in a decade. The month-long process, which initially involved eight candidates, two voting stages and ten days of hustings, has been heralded by the firm as showing its breadth and depth, but has also raised eyebrows.

Legal Business

Who Represents Who: Firms that will be affected by the fall of Carillion

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Corporate Addleshaw GoddardClarks LegalClyde & CoDLA PiperEversheds SutherlandFBC Manby BowdlerFieldfisherIrwin MitchellKennedysLinklatersPinsent MasonsRPCSacker & PartnersSlaughter and May

For more information on Who Represents Who, contact:
David Burgess,
Publishing Director, The Legal 500
legal500.com/wrw
david.burgess@legal500.com

Legal Business

Natural selection: Darwin’s evolution to DLA Piper senior partner ‘only fitting’

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Leadership DLA Piper

DLA Piper has elected firm veteran Andrew Darwin its new senior partner after last year’s surprise departure of Juan Picón sparked the firm’s first contested senior partner election in a decade.

Darwin has been at DLA his entire career since joining in 1981, and previously held management roles within the firm including chief operating officer, head of corporate, and managing partner in the UK and Australia. He beat London-based international corporate head Bob Bishop and corporate partner John Hayes to the role following 10 days of hustings by the three finalists .

Darwin (pictured), who was seen as the frontrunner throughout the election process, said he was focused on the future of the firm and ensuring it built on its platform: ‘It is a great honour for me to be elected senior partner. I have spent my whole working career at the firm and I am very proud to have played a key role in the development of the global law firm it is today.’

DLA co-chief executive Simon Levine said Darwin was ‘absolutely the right person’ for the role: ‘Andrew’s dedication to, and belief in, DLA Piper is unquestionable and it is only fitting that his career has culminated in being appointed as senior partner.’

Darwin’s term is effective immediately, replacing interim senior partner Janet Legrand. He is also nominated as co-chairman for the global board. The firm held a two-stage senior partner election process, which initially had eight candidates, following Picón’s departure for Latham & Watkins less than two years into his term. Darwin’s experience and knowledge was seen as a suitable counter to the relative instability caused by Picón’s resignation.

The other five candidates were Brussels competition partner Bertold Bär-Bouyssiere, Paris employment partner Bijan Eghbal, Madrid corporate partner Iñigo Gomez-Jordana, London’s finance partner Charles Morrison and Iife sciences co-chair Bonella Ramsay.

Picón, who first joined DLA in 2006 from Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, had been elected senior partner in March 2016 after running uncontested. He replaced long-time leader Sir Nigel Knowles , who last year joined DWF to become its chair.

Picón was one of DLA’s biggest billers and during his time he strengthened the firm’s relationship with Vodafone after being instructed on its €7.2bn acquisition of Spanish broadband company Ono. His move to the highest-grossing firm in the world, Latham, from the one that used to hold that position was fuelled by his desire to spend more time in his native Spain.

Hamish.mcnicol@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Deal watch: DLA Piper and Addleshaws advise on Carillion fire sale as US and UK firms pick up major mandates

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Corporate Addleshaw GoddardDLA Piper

DLA Piper and Addleshaw Goddard have won roles advising on the sale of part of recently-collapsed Carillion’s business while Watson Farley & Williams (WFW), Allen & Overy (A&O), Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Paul Hastings and Kirkland & Ellis all picked up major deals this week.

Addleshaw Goddard advised engineering and construction company J Murphy & Sons on its acquisition of Carillion’s UK power framework business for an undisclosed sum. The deal sees Murphy take Carillion’s position on National Grid’s electricity overhead lines, substation and underground cable framework contracts, supporting replacement and refurbishment schemes on transmission networks across England and Wales.

Murphy, a private infrastructure company which employs more than 3,000 engineers, will also take on 22 former Carillion employees as part of the transaction. The acquisition follows Carillion’s liquidation in January after talks between the Wolverhampton-headquartered company, its creditors and the government failed to reach a deal on its £1.5bn liabilities, including £900m in debt.

The Addleshaw Goddard team was led by Manchester-based corporate partner Shelley McGivern. She declined to comment further.

DLA Piper, meanwhile, acted for the Official Receiver for Carillion. The firm declined to comment further or name who led from its side. Dentons’ restructuring partners Nigel Barnett and Neil Griffiths have also been advising the liquidator since Carillion’s collapse.

Meanwhile, a cluster of firms won advisory roles on Blackburn-based petrol store retailer EG Group’s purchase of Kroger’s convenience store business for $2.15bn. As a result of the acquisition, which is expected to close in the first quarter of Kroger’s fiscal year, EG Group will establish a North American headquarters in Cincinnati, the city where Kroger was founded.

Magic Circle firm A&O is the main legal adviser to EG Group, with a team consisting of partners William Schwitter and Jeffrey Pellegrino. US outfit Kirkland & Ellis also acted for EG Group on financing aspects of the deal, led by partner Neel Sachdev.

Sachdev told Legal Business: ‘It was a real privilege to help EG put in place their new financing and to support their growth strategy through acquisitions, including the Kroger deal.’

Weil provided legal support to Kroger, with a team headed by New York corporate partner Michael Aiello. He was supported by fellow corporate partner Matthew Gilroy, technology partner Michael Epstein, tax partner Kenneth Heitner, executive compensation and benefits partner Paul Wessel, real estate partner Philip Rosen, antitrust partner Jeffrey Perry and environmental partner Annemargaret Connolly.

Paul Hastings advised EG Group on real estate due diligence for the transaction, with a team led by real estate partner Robert Keane alongside corporate partner Robert Miller.

Energy and transport specialist WFW has racked up two significant real estate deals for a combined value of over £860m, after advising longstanding client Frasers Group on its £174.6m acquisition of Farnborough Business Park as well as its £686m buyout of a portfolio of four other UK business parks.

The Farnborough Business Park acquisition was a joint venture between Frasers Centrepoint and Frasers Commercial Trust. The park comprises of 14 commercial buildings and has a net lettable area of 555,000 sq. ft. The portfolio buyout included parks in Reading, Basingstoke, Camberley and Glasgow.

Gowling WLG advised Farnborough Business Park on the sale, while Gibson Dunn & Crutcher represented the seller of the four-park portfolio.

WFW’s team on both acquisitions was led by corporate partner Felicity Jones, who said the portfolio acquisition had a tight timeframe, which was agreed and signed in under four weeks. She added: ‘Having had a long term relationship with the hospitality arm of Frasers, we were especially pleased to work with their commercial arm on their expansion into the UK. It also provided a good opportunity to complement our existing expertise in the business park area.’

Also acting on the acquisitions for WFW was corporate partner Dearbhla Quigley, tax partner Tom Jarvis, real estate partners Simon Folley and Hetan Ganatra and planning and environment partner Nick Walker.

tom.baker@legalease.co.uk

hamish.mcnicol@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

And then there were three: DLA Piper senior partner finalists named

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Leadership DLA Piper

DLA Piper’s first senior partner contest in a decade is down to three candidates after the first round of voting closed on Friday (26 January).

London-based international corporate head Bob Bishop, emerging markets managing director Andrew Darwin, and corporate partner Jon Hayes now face 10 days of hustings before the firm’s new senior partner is announced on 12 February.

The trio advanced to the second round from a large pool of eight partners who were vying for the position following last year’s surprise departure of Juan Picón to Latham & Watkins.

Brussels competition partner Bertold Bär-Bouyssiere, Paris employment partner Bijan Eghbal, and Madrid corporate partner Iñigo Gomez-Jordana missed out alongside London’s finance partner Charles Morrison and Iife sciences co-chair Bonella Ramsay.

Darwin and Hayes were both strongly tipped to make the second round, while Bishop was also seen as a strong candidate. Ramsay, the only female candidate, was considered a good chance for a spot in the final three, given her history working alongside co-chief executive Simon Levine after the pair left Dentons for DLA in 2005 as part of an eye-catching 11-partner switch.

The high-profile veteran Darwin is a member of the firm’s global board and was formerly the firm’s chief operating officer, head of corporate, and managing partner in the UK and Australia. A former DLA Piper partner said Darwin’s experience and knowledge of the firm could provide a suitable counter to the relative period of instability caused by Picón’s short tenure and resignation.

Meanwhile Hayes, a former Linklaters corporate partner on DLA’s international board, was described as ‘sensible and a class act’. Bishop is co-chair of the global corporate group and holds the same role for its M&A practice.

The firm is deploying a single transferable vote system, split into two stages because of the large number of candidates. The most popular three candidates from the first round of votes progressed to the second stage.

Picón, who first joined DLA in 2006 from Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, had been elected senior partner in March 2016 after running uncontested. He replaced long-time leader Sir Nigel Knowles , who last year joined DWF to become its chair.

Picón was one of DLA’s biggest billers and during his time he strengthened the firm’s relationship with Vodafone after being instructed on its €7.2bn acquisition of Spanish broadband company Ono. His move to the highest-grossing firm in the world, Latham, from the one that used to hold that position was fuelled by his desire to spend more time in his native Spain.

hamish.mcnicol@legalease.co.uk