Legal Business

Olswang exits continue amid merger talks as restructuring head quits for US firm

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US firm McDermott Will & Emery has taken on Olswang‘s head of restructuring & insolvency Alicia Videon in the first exit from the firm since merger talks with CMS Cameron McKenna and Nabarro were revealed last week.

Videon spent more than eight years at OIswang leading on restructuring work on commercial real estate and advising on buyers and sellers of distressed debt. Videon is cited in the Legal 500 as being ‘at the top of her game’ for corporate restructuring work.

Before joining Olswang, Videon trained at legacy Lovells and spent three years as a partner at DLA Piper until 2008. Olswang has endured a string of exits before three-way merger talks with Camerons and Nabarro were confirmed last week.

Last week, Legal Business reported partners at all three firms were in holding meetings with management to discuss the merger. Camerons later released a statement confirming talks were taking place for a combination to create ‘a differentiated, modern firm.’

Chicago-based McDermott has been hiring in recent months, boosting its City presence with the addition of KPMG tax partner Russell Hampshire earlier this week. Hampshire spent 14 years as EMEA tax leader for technology at the Big Four accountant.

The firm also added Taylor Wessing corporate partner and healthcare specialist Hamid Yunis in September, who joins the team led by former colleague and London head of corporate Mark Davis.

Recent Olswang departures have seen life sciences co-head Stephen Reese leaving for Clifford Chance. Funds partner Barry Stimpson left for Bond Dickinson after being retained for a time as a consultant, while private equity partner Duncan McDonald jumped to Taylor Wessing.

In February, McDermott appointed private client partner Andrew Vergunst to lead the London office, while in September Ira Coleman was elected chair of the firm, taking up the role in January 2017. The US firm has around 550 partners and a turnover of $891.6m, however turnover for 2015/16 slipped around 1% according to the Global 100. The firm declined to comment on Videon’s appointment.

matthew.field@legalease.co.uk

 

Legal Business

McDermott and DLA Piper partners join Orrick for Houston launch

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Having announced it will open a new office in Houston, 13 partners have joined US firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, including McDermott Will & Emery‘s global head of energy Blake Winburne, and DLA Piper‘s co-chair of global and US patent litigation Claudia Frost.

Winburne will co-lead the firm’s 130-lawyer global energy and infrastructure group, and brings with him two other partners – Matt Archer and Brad Gathright – who both focus on project development and finance.

Alongside Frost, disputes partner and patent litigator Jeffrey Johnson also leaves DLA Piper.

The remainder of the team includes four partners joining from Andrews Kurth; three partners from McGuireWoods; and one lateral partner hire from Susman Godfrey, alongside two partners joining as counsel from Haynes and Boone.

The new office will focus on three main areas: energy and infrastructure, litigation and IP, and public finance, with an aim to serve clients across Latin America in the energy, technology and finance sectors.

Orrick first announced the opening of its Houston office in mid-January and expects to announce seven more partners, at least five of whom are expected to join later this month. One of these will join as the firm’s Houston office head and co-head of the Latin America Group.

The firm’s chairman Mitch Zuklie said: ‘Houston is a vitally important market for our clients and a key hub for the energy and infrastructure and Latin American markets. We are committed to continuing to grow these teams and adding capabilities in areas such as private equity and energy technology that address our clients’ needs and are a strategic fit with our strengths.’

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

A list of the joining partners:

Energy and infrastructure: Latin America and corporate/M&A

Blake Winburne from McDermott Will & Emery

Dahl Thompson from Andrews Kurth

Matt Archer from McDermott Will & Emery

Brad Gathright from McDermott Will & Emery

George Humphrey from Andrews Kurth

Giji John from Andrews Kurth

Darrell Thomas from Andrews Kurth

Litigation: commercial, IP and appellate

Claudia Wilson Frost from DLA Piper

Jeffrey Johnson from DLA Piper

Katherine Treistman from Susman Godfrey

Public finance

Todd Brewer from McGuireWoods

Hoang Vu from McGuireWoods

Marcus Deitz from McGuireWoods

Kathryn Garner from Haynes and Boone (joining as counsel)

J. Kent Friedman from Haynes and Boone (joining as counsel)

Legal Business

‘The next phase’: McDermott Will & Emery names successor to London head Nineham

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Private client partner Andrew Vergunst (pictured) is to become the head of McDermott Will & Emery‘s London office, replacing corporate lawyer Hugh Nineham when he retires at the end of March.

Vergunst joined McDermott Will & Emery in 2009 from Maitland, a legal, tax and fiduciary firm based in Luxembourg, to launch the firm’s private client practice in the City along with Lawrence Graham (now Wragge Lawrence Graham) partner Martyn Gowar. Vergunst was at Maitland for more than a decade and headed its private client department before switching to the US firm.

He will succeed Nineham, who is well known in the City from his time as corporate finance chief at Lovells (now Hogan Lovells), after six years at the helm. Other senior posts held by Nineham include European head of corporate at McDermott Will & Emery and Hong Kong head of corporate at Lovells. Barclays Bank was one of his biggest clients.

Vergunst, who began his career as a lawyer in South Africa, specialises in tax planning for high-net-worth individuals. He arrived at McDermott Will & Emery just two weeks before Nineham became head of the London office and has since become the office’s sole representative on the firm’s global management committee in early 2014.

McDermott Will & Emery became the fastest shrinking overseas law firm in the City during this period, as its lawyer headcount fell by 39% between 2009 and 2014 to 43 lawyers. It is one of just 12 major international firms to reduce its London footprint in this period. Vergunst has, however, grown the private client practice to 14 lawyers since his arrival, with the group now accounting for a third of the London office.

The new leader told Legal Business while the office was not going to set unrealistic targets, it wanted to remain and be more strategically important to the firm.

He added: ‘We will look for opportunities to grow in private client and corporate. Good growth will have knock on effects, particularly in corporate, so that will be the focus. A lot of the corporate work is for privately owned businesses so there’s a very neat fit that will mean growth will be greater than the sum of the parts.

‘It would be foolish of us to expect the London market to stand still and for us to be successful by standing still. We are very well positioned within the London market, given the international nature of our practice, to continue to develop and grow our cross-border work. There’s a lot of opportunity for us here. The firm is ready to move on to the next phase.’

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Hitting the target: Latham & Watkins boosts female partner promotions in latest round

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Almost half the lawyers made partner in Latham & Watkins’ latest 25 partner promotion round are female, following global chair Bill Voge’s pledge for diversity.

Following his election last summer, Voge promised to make diversity a priority and this is evident in the latest promotion round where 48% of those made up to partner are female. This is a significant leap on 2014, when just three of the 19 new partners were female, or 16% of the total. In 2013, it was just 15%.

Of the promotions at the world’s largest law firm, four London lawyers were made up to partner, with the firm investing heavily in the City despite a US-focused round.

Unsurprisingly, 20 of the firm’s 25 lawyers to make partner came in the US, the engine of the firm. But of the firm’s five overseas promotions, four of those new partners were based in the City, with Milan M&A associate Giovanni Sandicchi the only new partner outside of the US and the UK.

There are three more promotions in the City than last year with the focus on the firm’s finance and corporate practices. Finance associates Adrian Chiodo, who focuses on cross-border leveraged finance, and restructuring specialist Helena Potts were both made up to partner in the London, as was Robbie McLaren.

Farah O’Brien, a private equity dealmaker who joined from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer a decade ago, was made up in the corporate department after work on a string of high-profile deals, including advising key clients The Carlyle Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, such as KKR’s €1.1bn purchase of UK harness maker Capital Safety in 2012.

Four other associates in the City were promoted to counsel positions, with all promotions set to take effect on 1 January.

This City promotions round is the joint-largest ever by Latham in London, equalling the four lawyers made up to partner in 2013. While globally this year’s cohort of new partners is six larger than in 2014, and five larger than in 2013, the promotions are distinctly more American than in previous years. Last year there were overseas promotions across London, Madrid, Hamburg, Milan, Paris, Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi, but this year only lawyers in London and Milan secured partnership outside of the US.

City lawyers have missed out on partnership promotions at McDermott Will & Emery, with no promotions in its latest round of 30. The firm made up three partners in Europe: Gregor Lamla in Düsseldorf, Pierre-Arnoux Mayoly in Paris and Steffen Woitz in Munich.

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

The Latham & Watkins 2015 partnership promotions are:

Rachel Bates, real estate, Chicago

Marc Zubick, litigation, Chicago

Thomas Brandt, corporate, Houston

Stephen Szalkowski, corporate, Houston

Adrian Chiodo, finance, London

Robbie McLaren, corporate, London

Farah O’Brien corporate, London

Helena Potts, finance, London

Douglas Burnaford, finance, Los Angeles

Michelle Carpenter, tax, Los Angeles

Giovanni Sandicchi, corporate, Milan,

Kegan Brown, environment, land & resources and litigation, New York

Adam Goldberg, finance, New York

Lori Goodman, tax, New York

Austin Ozawa, tax, New York

Jesse Sheff, finance, New York

Hilary Shalla, finance, Orange County

Jennifer Koh, litigation, San Diego

Lisa Nguyen, litigation, Silicon Valley

Benjamin Potter, corporate, Silicon Valley

Chad Rolston, corporate, Silicon Valley

Sarah Greenfield, litigation, Washington DC

Shagufa Hossain, corporate, Washington DC

Leakhena Mom, corporate, Washington DC  

Andrea Ramezan-Jackson, tax, Washington DC   

Legal Business

Ropes adds first full-time City IP partner as it recruits McDermott privacy co-chairs in data security push

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Ropes & Gray is pushing on with its City build-out with McDermott Will & Emery data privacy co-chairs joining the firm’s privacy and data security practice in London and Boston.

Rohan Massey has joined Ropes’ as its first full-time City-based intellectual property (IP) partner, after nearly 15 years at McDermott having joined in October 2000. Massey most recently headed the IP, media and technology team at the firm as well as co-chairing its global data privacy group. His main focus is IP asset management, data privacy and commercial deals.

In his new role at Ropes, Massey will advise clients on EU and UK privacy and data protection as well as media, e-commerce, outsourcing, IT and IP, and co-lead the privacy and data security practice, alongside Heather Egan Sussman who joins the Boston-bred firm alongside him.

Boston-based Sussman previously co-chaired McDermott’s global privacy and data security and technology practice alongside Massey, and will focus on on privacy, information security and consumer protection. Doug Meal, a litigation partner in Ropes’ privacy and data security practice said: ‘They are both big-picture thinkers, with an impressive track record of helping clients innovate while simultaneously meeting compliance obligations and solidifying consumer trust. Our clients will immediately recognise and benefit from the energy and brilliance that Heather and Rohan bring to our growing, global privacy and data security and technology capabilities.’

The hires form part of the firm’s wider push to grow its London base after it launched a commercial litigation offering with K&L Gates disputes partner Thomas Ross in April and recruited Chadbourne & Parke structured finance specialist Partha Pal in May.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Revolving doors: Specialists and US firms build up in the City

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Last week saw specialist and US firms strengthen their presence in the City and Europe as Kingsley Napley strengthened its disputes offering, Lee & Thompson hired a head of sports, Greenberg Traurig Maher brought in a corporate partner to its London office and McDermott Will & Emery hired a team of private equity lawyers in Paris.

Litigation specialist Kingsley Napley hired Will Christopher as a partner in its Dispute Resolution practice from Pinsent Masons. He specialises in civil fraud, asset recovery and investigations having led the business crime and commercial fraud group at McGrigors before its merger with Pinsents. Prior to that, he worked at Reid Minty and PCB Litigation focusing on fraud related litigation.

Meanwhile, Greenberg Traurig Maher expanded its City corporate team with the hire of corporate partner Joel Wheeler.

Wheeler joins Greenberg as an equity partner from Crowell & Moring where he has been a partner since 2009, with a focus on corporate and commercial matters, including M&A, private equity, debt and equity capital market offerings and corporate restructurings. He has experience on cross-border deals including in the US, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, Kurdistan, China and Cambodia. Prior to Crowell, Wheeler worked at US firm Debevoise & Plimpton.

Greenberg chief executive officer Richard Rosenbaum said: ‘As the London office continues to target high profile, complex, cross-border deals, Joel’s extensive cross-border expertise across the US and Europe in particular, allows him to bring tremendous global experience and insight to this role. While Greenberg Traurig enjoys an outstanding transactional track record, we are increasingly looking to enhance and broaden the offering that our corporate and finance groups provide.’

The addition take Greenberg’s partner headcount in the City to 20 and almost 50 fee-earners but Wheeler’s exit will serve a blow to Crowell’s already small team in London, leaving just one full-time partner and London head Adrian Jones to hold the fort alongside three associates, and two other partners who both split their time between the London and Washington DC offices.

Another US firm also expanded its European offering as McDermott boosted its Paris office with a team of private equity specialists. The new arrivals consist of three partners, Henri Pieyre de Mandiargues, Carole Degonse and Grégoire Andrieux, who all join from Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle.

David Goldman, partner and head of McDermott’s corporate advisory practice said: ‘Our aim is to be recognized as one of the leading firms in the Paris legal market, and the arrival of this group adds tremendous expertise to the Firm’s transactional practice’

Back in the City, Oli Shipton joined Lee & Thompson as partner, having previously been Group General Counsel at Round World Entertainment (RWE). Shipton joins the corporate & commercial group and will also become a head of the firm’s sport group.

At RWE his role involved advising across the group’s varied business interests including 1966 Entertainment, which managed the commercial rights of the England Men’s National Football Team; 10Ten Talent which represent Pelé, Jack Wilshere, and Glenn Hoddle; and Iconic Images. Alongside his new role Oli will continue as principal counsel for the RWE businesses. His experience focuses on commercial contracts within the sporting and creative fields.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

michael.west@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Partner promotions: 20% of Ropes & Gray new partners in London while McDermott adds three

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Ropes & Gray and McDermott Will & Emery are the most recent US firms to announce their partner promotions, with Ropes making up four in the City out of 20 worldwide, while McDermott is promoting three in London out of a total of 33.

At Ropes, the new City partners include Amanda Raad and Marcus Thompson in the government enforcement practice, John Newton in the private equity practice and Fergus Wheeler in finance.

The remainder of the promotions were across seven other offices, with 65% or 13 promotions in total occurring in the firm’s US offices. Outside of the US and UK, just three other promotions were made, with two in Shanghai and one in Hong Kong. The promotions took effect on 1 November.

Meanwhile, McDermott Will & Emery’s 33 partner promotions, which will go into effect on 1 January 2015. The promotions were made in 12 of the firm’s offices.

78% of the firm’s promotions were made in the US, with a total of 26. The three promotions in London include Matthew Herrington in US and international tax; Dhana Sabanathan in private client; and Eleanor West in corporate.

Separately, MWE China Law Offices announced the promotion of another new partner in Shanghai.

McDermott Will & Emery’s co-chair Jeffrey Stone said: ‘It’s not by accident that these 33 exemplary attorneys come from such a wide range of practices and jurisdictions. They are a genuine reflection of our business and the growth we are aiming to achieve as we navigate today’s evolving legal landscape.’

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

McDermott Will & Emery, CMS and Spain’s Olleros lead on €3.62bn Telefónica rights issue

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McDermott Will & Emery and CMS Hasche Sigle have won the lead roles in advising Telefónica Deutschland’s €3.62bn rights offering to help finance the acquisition of E-Plus Group from KPN.

The rights offering comes after Dutch telecoms company Koninklijke KPN sold its German mobile telecoms subsidiary E-Plus to Telefónica Deutschland for €8.1bn at the end of July, for which McDermott Will & Emery, Allen & Overy and CMS Hasche Sigle all scored leading roles on.

McDermott´s team advised Telefónica SA, the largest shareholder of Telefónica Deutschland, led by Frankfurt-based US corporate partner Joseph Marx and corporate partners Philipp von Ilberg, Clemens Just and Martin Kniehase in Frankfurt. The firm’s New York corporate partners Joel Rubinstein and Rick Mitchell, and corporate partner Nick Aziz in London also advised on the transaction.

Telefónica Deutschland was advised by CMS Hasche Sigle with a team including partners Oliver Thurn, Philipp Melzer, Daniel Winterfeldt, Martin Kuhn and Martin Kolbinger.

Spanish-based law firm Olleros Abogados also advised on the deal with corporate partner Jaime Olleros leading a team that included partner Gonzalo Ceron and associate Alicia Sanchez.

Telefónica Deutschland is issuing over 1.1 billion new shares priced at €3.24 per share, implying a discount to the theoretical ex-rights price of 28.32%. The underwriters on this deal include Citigroup Global Markets, HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt, Morgan Stanley and UBS, while the joint bookrunners are BofA Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan Securities.  

Marx said: ‘We are very pleased to have advised Telefónica, S.A. on this very significant deal, which demonstrates our growing relationship with Telefónica, S.A. in Europe and the growth of our capital markets practice in Germany.’

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Revolving doors: Senior ex-Unilever and Amex lawyers move to private practice as McDermott boosts Paris office

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Some of the most high-profile strategic hires recently have seen former in-house counsel move to private practice, all following the news last week that Weil, Gotshal & Manges is bringing Goldman Sachs’ European head and co-head of restructuring Andrew Wilkinson back to a law firm.

Irwin Mitchell has appointed the former head of trade marks at Unilever, Katrina Burchell, to its intellectual property team. Burchell, who was most recently IP director of Kering, the owner of luxury brands such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen, will join Irwin Mitchell’s London office.

With 25 years’ experience as a qualified trade mark attorney, Burchell spent 15 years at Unilever where she was head of the global trade mark team. She will work alongside former Brown Rudnick IP head Georgie Collins who was brought in last September to spearhead the firm’s IP practice.

Collins said: ‘Recruiting Katrina is a real coup for Irwin Mitchell in terms of her profile, extensive in-house experience and knowledge of all things brand. Katrina understands how to price and market brands-led IP products and services effectively and efficiently without compromising quality. As a result of her role at Unilever she also understands that there are some aspects of trade mark filing/prosecution work that are process driven and can be systemised and managed more efficiently.’

In the US, the former GC of American Express, Louise Parent, has joined Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton‘s New York office as an of Counsel having retired from her post in 2013 after 20 years at the credit card company. At Cleary, she will advise clients on issues related principally to corporate governance and regulatory matters.

Meanwhile, McDermott Will & Emery has appointed former Dechert partner Emmanuelle Trombe to its corporate advisory practice group in Paris. Trombe focuses her practice on clients in the pharmaceutical, medical device and related healthcare industries, representing French, European and US life science companies on acquisitions and divestitures, outsourcing projects, product development, cooperation and licensing agreements, regulatory issues and general corporate and commercial law matters.

David Goldman, head of McDermott’s corporate advisory practice group, said: ‘Emmanuelle brings an outstanding reputation to our corporate and life sciences practices and reinforces our commitment to continue to grow our international transactional practice in key strategic areas.

‘We are, as a firm, committed to our life sciences practice – spanning all aspects from IP to regulatory to transactional. Our commitment to life sciences extends beyond the United States, and expanding our practice in Paris offers a great opportunity for growth at this time.’

francesca.fanshawe@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

US results season 2013: McDermott and King & Spalding post 4% increase in revenue

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Chicago-headquartered firm McDermott Will & Emery has continued its post-financial crisis recovery, unveiling a 3.5% increase in revenue to $881m, as close US rival in revenue terms, King & Spalding sees its turnover increase by 4% to $861.4m.

McDermott’s net income also grew in 2013, with a 7% increase to $297m, fuelling an increase in profit per equity partner (PEP) to $1.545m. The top 40 Global 100 firm’s profit margin rose by a percentage point to 34%, while its revenue per lawyer increased by 4.2% to $865,000.

While the results are a considerable way off from McDermott’s 2009 turnover of $962m, after which it suffered a post-recession drop in revenue of over 18% in two years, it marks the continuation of recovery first tracked in the Global100 2012 edition, when the firm posted a 5% increase to $825.3m, followed by 3% increase to $851m last year.

The 1,024-lawyer firm was active in the lateral hiring market in 2013, bringing in 22 partners across 11 US and international offices. One of McDermott’s stand-out hires was that of former Ashurst German private equity head Nikolaus Von Jacobs in December last year to head up the firm’s private equity practice in Munich.

In the US, June last year saw McDermott hire former deputy associate attorney general, Marisa Chun to its Silicon Valley office, bolstering the firm’s trial practice. It further strengthened its white collar crime practice with the hires of Houston-based Michael Wynne, a former assistant US attorney in the Southern District of Texas, and Patton Boggs partner Todd Harrison in New York in September last year. The firm also secured the hire of the former general counsel of the US patent and trademark office, IP litigator Bernard Knight, in July last year.

Elsewhere, more profitable top 40 Global100 firm King & Spalding joins the growing list of US firms posting positive 2013 results, with revenue up by 4% to $861.4m from $827.5m and its PEP figure up by 8% to $2.14m from $1.99m.

Since 2009, the 873-lawyer firm’s revenue has increased by 27.1% from $677.5m.

The financial results come as Los Angeles-originated global firm Paul Hastings this week posted a 2013 increase of 3.6% in turnover to $941m from $908m last year. PEP is up by 4.6% to $2.175m, while RPL also grew by 5% to $1.06m.

This month US firms including Dechert, Sidley Austin, Goodwin Proctor and Latham & Watkins have all posted solid increases in revenue for 2013.

Latham revealed moderate growth figures, with revenue up by 2.7% to $2.29bn, while Sidley Austin posted solid 2013 results, with revenue up by around 7% to $1.6bn from $1.49bn and net profits up by around the same margin to $547m from $510.5m.

david.stevenson@legalease.co.uk