Mass hire from Pillsbury sees 15 partners defect.
Winston & Strawn, which had been looking to bolster its finance and corporate teams, pulled it off in a single move last month by hiring 15 Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman partners across five offices. The bulk of the hires were senior figures, including global finance chief Mats Carlston and London-based co-head of energy, infrastructure and projects, James Simpson.
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Eight more Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman partners have resigned in New York, Washington DC and San Francisco to join Winston & Strawn, taking the firm’s haul of Pillsbury partners up to 11.
Winston & Strawn, which was revealed by Legal Business yesterday to have been targeting up to 15 lawyers from Pillsbury and having already secured Abu Dhabi managing partner Stephen Jurgenson, London-based co-head of energy, infrastructure and projects James Simpson on top of New York-based structured products chief Jeffrey Stern, has hired senior Pillsbury partners to manage its investment management and M&A and securities practices.
As part of the firm’s push into the corporate market, Winston & Strawn has brought in Pillsbury Washington DC-based corporate partner Chris Zochowski. He joins as co-chair of the firm’s M&A and securities group. Zochowski joined Pillsbury in 2011 from McDermott Will & Emery, where he had spent four years as a partner. He started his career as an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell.
Joining the influential Stern in New York are two finance partners, restructuring specialists Peter Alfano and Anthony Schouten, alongside corporate partner James Kelly, corporate trust partner Bart Pisella and employment partner Scott Landau.
Landau works closely with the finance team and is well known for representing private equity clients in acquisitions, divestitures and restructurings. The moves bring the number of partners making the switch in New York up to five, with more expected to follow.
‘The addition of this talented group enhances our M&A, private equity, finance and corporate trust practices while augmenting our footprint in key markets,’ said Dominick DeChiara, chair of Winston’s corporate department. ‘These partners will integrate exceptionally well with our existing practice and client base.’
Winston & Strawn’s raid on Pillsbury also hit the West Coast with the arrival of financial services partners Jay Gould and Michael Wu.
Gould headed Pillsbury’s investment funds and investment management practice and takes up a similar position at Winston & Strawn, gaining the title of financial services and investment management co-chair.
Gould’s book of business centres on investment companies, hedge funds, offshore investment companies and broker-dealers. He has served long stints within the financial services sector too, having been chief counsel at US online brokerage platform E*TRADE Global Asset Management, vice president at life insurance firm TransAmerica and senior counsel to Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association. He has been an attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Wu’s practice focuses on investment management regulation, advising broker dealers, private equity funds and hedge funds.
DeChiara said the duo were ‘important hires’ due to their ‘strong track record of helping clients in the financial services sector to navigate the challenges presented by the continuously changing regulatory environment’.
Outlining Winston & Strawn’s overall aims, managing partner Tom Fitzgerald added: ‘We are placing an emphasis on strategically expanding our corporate practice in key markets, including Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York, Silicon Valley, and Washington DC.’
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk
Up to 15 lawyers are set to quit from US firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman for Winston & Strawn, with the firm’s Abu Dhabi managing partner Stephen Jurgenson, London-based co-head of energy, infrastructure and projects James Simpson and New York-based structured products chief Jeffrey Stern having already resigned from the firm.
An internal announcement to the Winston & Strawn partnership on Monday confirmed that Stern had joined the firm. Legal Business understands the New York structured finance specialist also attended Winston & Strawn’s annual partners meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona, last week. Management at Winston & Strawn was hoping to announce what one partner told Legal Business is ‘up to 15 lawyers, mainly partners, and mostly heads of departments’ at the four-day gathering which ended on Sunday, but was delayed as some Pillsbury partners are still to resign.
The swoop reinvigorates what has been a flagging international strategy at Winston & Strawn following a number of partner exits in 2014 and bolsters the firm’s finance credentials in the US, London and the Middle East. The firm is well known and regarded for its litigation capabilities in the US, with disputes accounting for around 50% of the firm’s global revenue, and this move is viewed by partners as a major push to rebalance the firm and build up in corporate.
Jurgenson’s arrival will result in Winston & Strawn launching in the Middle East, with the firm contemplating whether he continues to operate in Abu Dhabi or relocates to Dubai. The new office will become Winston & Strawn’s 19th global office, but one issue that will need to be resolved is that the firm will need to obtain its own license for him to practice under its banner, as it is necessary for him to be employed to stay in the jurisdiction.
Stern is seen by Winston & Strawn management as a major coup in New York, with two decades of experience in structured finance and derivatives under his belt. He has also moved into the crowdfunding arena, helping to launch a number of financings. He previously spent time as a partner at US firms Stroock & Stroock & Lavan and Thacher Proffitt & Wood.
Meanwhile, Simpson is set to join Winston & Strawn’s London office in April and is expected to bring across a team of associates as well. Simpson works closely with Jurgenson in the Middle East, given his large book of business in the region, and has more than 25 years of corporate transaction experience. He leaves after just three years at Pillsbury, having joined in May 2012 from now defunct Dewey & LeBouf, where he was also a partner.
Commenting on the departures, Pilsbury said in a statement: ‘While Pillsbury has had excellent partner retention in recent years, it is nevertheless a fact of life that partners come and go at all firms. We are very sorry to see any partner leave us. We wish these partners nothing but the best in their new endeavor.’
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk
There are many so-called ‘hot’ topics in international arbitration that could have been the subject of this article, but ultimately the topic chose itself.
In arbitration, a dissenting opinion is a written statement that an arbitrator can make to express their disagreement with the award or the reasoning for it. It does not form part of the award. Nor is it a separate award. Under most arbitration legislation, it does not prevent the award from being final or from being an award.
While dissenting opinions or judgments may be more common in common law jurisdictions, they have been traditionally less prevalent in civil jurisdictions or in international arbitration, where consensus is more of the norm and desired.
Dissenting opinions may serve an important role in the arbitration process. They can enhance confidence in the award by reinforcing the independence of the arbitrator and avoid awards being watered down or compromised in the name of unanimity.
However, such opinions also carry a risk of abuse. They expose an arbitrator for lacking independence, preferring instead to flatter and appease the party that appointed them. Such a risk may be even more likely in unadministered arbitration where there is no institution to oversee the behaviour of the arbitral tribunal or scrutinise the award.
At worst, a dissenting opinion may delay the rendering of an award or even put at risk its enforceability. Dissenting opinions may also undermine the principle of confidentiality with regard to the tribunal’s deliberations.
Given the more public domain in which they operate, investment arbitrations are perhaps perceived to have more dissenting opinions. Many such opinions have been criticised for revealing the personal prejudices of an arbitrator as a cynical means to undermine the validity and enforceability of the award. Some have gone as far as to suggest that a dissenting opinion is only given by party-appointed arbitrators whose parties have either lost fully or partly the arbitration proceedings.
Others have countered by claiming that dissenting opinions have led to positive development of international law and foster the legitimacy of international arbitration. Further, if a dissent is circulated before the award is finalised, it may ensure that the award is well-reasoned by raising the most difficult problems within the majority’s own reasoning.
With the perceived rise in dissenting opinions, it is important to remember that they may be beneficial to the arbitration process, but that they may also bring both the dissenting arbitrator and arbitration generally into disrepute. Arbitrators should not forget or be afraid to exercise their important right to dissent, but this right should be exercised sparingly and only after careful, considered, impartial and sincere reflection.
Joe Tirado is co-chair of international arbitration at Winston & Strawn
Following a somewhat uneven 2014, Olswang has hired an intellectual property partner duo from US firm Winston & Strawn in a bid to boost its City IP offering, while its corporate head Carpanini steps down after eight years.
Richard Price will join the TMT firm as head of IP arbitration, while Gareth Morgan joins as a partner in the IP practice. Price has experience of patent and trade mark litigation and arbitration, and will enhance the firm’s IP disputes offering, while patent litigator Morgan has experience of advising on pharma-regulatory issues. The duo bring with them two associates.
The team is known to have advised clients in the life sciences sector including Teva, Abbott Laboratories, AbbVie, Focus Pharmaceuticals, Actavis, InterMune and Healing Herbs.
Both Price and Morgan joined Winston & Strawn in 2011 from Taylor Wessing and DLA Piper respectively, and were hired by the US firm to spearhead the launch of its IP practice.
Olswang acting-chief exec and IP partner Michael Burdon said: ‘We are pleased to welcome the team to Olswang’s growing IP practice. I have known Gareth and Richard for many years, and their team’s outstanding track record in patent, trade mark and passing off litigation and stellar reputation in the life sciences sector further strengthen the firm’s unique IP and trade mark practice and sector focus.’
In addition, the firm has appointed its senior corporate TMT Partner Mark Bertram as its new head of corporate. Bertram has 25 years’ experience advising a range of international corporate clients in the media, communications and technology sectors, on mergers and acquisitions, capital sourcing and structuring, and exit strategies. He is the relationship partner for digital marketing communications group Dentsu Aegis Network, and recently advised Olswang Key Client Tesco on the disposals of Tesco Broadband and Blinkbox Entertainment and Music.
Bertram has been at Olswang since 2007 and a member of the firm’s board since April 2013. He succeeds corporate and private equity partner Fabrizio Carpanini, who after eight years as group head decided to step down from the role to continue to focus on his client work. He will remain on the firm’s executive committee.
Burdon added: ‘Mark’s extensive expertise working with international technology, media and telecoms clients means he will be a tremendous asset to meet the increasing demand for advice on major cross-border TMT transactions.’
jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk
Joe Tirado argues that dissenting opinions in arbitration are a double-edged sword
There are many so-called ‘hot’ topics in international arbitration that could have been the subject of this article, but ultimately the topic chose itself.
In arbitration, a dissenting opinion is a written statement that an arbitrator can make to express their disagreement with the award or the reasoning for it. It does not form part of the award. Nor is it a separate award. Under most arbitration legislation, it does not prevent the award from being final or from being an award.
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In a fortnight that has so far seen Winston & Strawn hire a four-strong corporate team from DLA Piper in Hong Kong; Berwin Leighton Paisner enter into an association in Indonesia; and Wragge Lawrence Graham end its association in Singapore with PK Wong & Associates, Clifford Chance’s Asia managing partner Peter Charlton also spoke to Legal Business about the firm’s heavy promotion rate in the region.
The Magic Circle firm’s latest partner promotion round of 21 saw a third of those promotions fall in the Asia Pacific region, with two in Singapore, two in Hong Kong, and one in Beijing, Bangkok and Perth.
It puts Clifford Chance marginally ahead of Magic Circle rival Linklaters, which made up six of its 21 new partners in Asia, and Allen & Overy, which also promoted a third of its smaller 16-strong round in the region, with three in Hong Kong, one in Perth and one in Sydney. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer promoted one partner in Perth, while Slaughter and May’s only promotions outside of its London office were the two associates made up in Hong Kong.
Charlton told Legal Business: ‘Thirty percent of our promotions were in Asia as it is strategically very important. We have doubled in size in five years from 50 to 100 partners and also doubled our revenues.
‘Asia now makes up for 15% of the firm’s revenues, but our aim is for it to be 20%.’
Elsewhere, in Hong Kong, Winston & Strawn’s four-strong corporate team hire last week from DLA includes DLA’s local office chief and Asia head of corporate Mabel Lui. Lui moves across to the US firm with senior associate Daniel Tang, who joins Winston & Strawn as a partner, of counsel Polly Chu and associate Natalie Tsang.
David Hall-Jones, Asia managing partner of the firm said: ‘The addition of this group is in line with our growth strategy for specific practice areas in Asia and significantly expands our capabilities within the corporate practice globally.’
The team focuses on cross-border M&A transactions, and general commercial and corporate matters. It represents further Asian expansion this year for Winston & Strawn, which opened an office in Taipei last month.
Meanwhile at newly-merged Wragge Lawrence Graham, which went live on 1 May, the firm has ended its formal law alliance (FLA) originally entered into by Lawrence Graham (LG) and Singapore’s PK Wong. The FLA began in 2010, creating Lawrence Graham PK Wong Alliance and was LG’s only Asian office.
In contrast BLP, following a tie-up with Myanmar’s Legal Network Consultants in March, has entered into a more recent alliance with Mataram Partners in Jakarta.
Mataram is based in the Jakarta stock exchange building and is led by senior partner Andi Zulfikar, with the firm practising a wide range of civil and commercial law with expertise in mining, an area of focus for BLP.
‘Indonesia is a key market for the firm and this relationship will provide the local knowledge that is key for the work we are doing in the country, especially in the mining sector,’ said Alistair Duffield, head of the firm’s Singapore and South East Asia practice.
BLP now has offices in Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore, which in addition to the firm’s growing network of Asian alliance firms gives the firm a credible presence in the region.
The tie-up comes as Appleby, following its launch in Shanghai in 2012, since when it has only been licensed to offer fiduciary services, has become the first offshore firm to be awarded a Chinese legal practice certificate, with most of its direct competitors servicing China from Hong Kong. The firm’s greater China team includes over 15 partners and fee-earners based in Hong Kong, although current managing partner of the firm’s Mauritius and Seychelles office, Malcolm Moller, will now lead the development of the firm’s offering in China, supported by fee-earners in Shanghai.
‘Being able to practise from within China will catapult our strategy for Asia and China forward, and we are very excited about this prospect,’ said Frances Woo, the firm’s chairman.
david.stevenson@legalease.co.uk
