Akin has named new leadership for its London office, as the firm’s long-serving City head leaves to take up a general counsel role in Dubai.
Finance partner Ezra Zahabi (pictured above) has been appointed as London partner-in-charge, succeeding Sebastian Rice, who is leaving to become GC of Dubai-based telecoms and digital services company VEON.
As London partner-in-charge, Zahabi will work alongside Barry Russell, who has been appointed as London senior partner.
Zahabi, who leads Akin’s non-contentious financial regulatory team in London, has been with the firm since 2014, working with some of the world’s largest investment managers. Russell has also been at Akin since 2014, coming over as part of a large group of Bingham McCutchen lawyers who joined as their former firm disintegrated.
Russell is one of the best-known partners in the firm’s top-tier City restructuring practice, and is recognised in the Legal 500 Hall of Fame, while he is also a leading partner in the debt capital markets rankings.
The Akin partners will step into their new positions on 1 January next year, with Rice due to start his new role at VEON on the same day.
Rice, who has been at Akin since 2002, has led the firm’s London office for almost 12 years. He has also been co-head of the firm’s corporate practice since the beginning of 2020, and will be succeeded in that role by private equity partner David Sewell, who will work in tandem with New York-based co-head Zach Wittenberg.
Of Rice’s departure, Akin co-chair Dan Walsh commented: ‘Sebastian has been an exceptional leader whose impact will continue to be felt across the firm. His contributions – from shaping the growth of our London office to helping define our international strategy – have positioned Akin for continued success. We’re excited for him as he takes this next step with VEON.’
In statement, the firm added that Walsh and his fellow co-chair Abid Qureshi would be ‘closely engaged’ with the London and international offices ‘to ensure a smooth transition and ongoing leadership presence’.
Akin’s London office has a strong reputation for restructuring and finance matters, and earlier this year the London-based team was shortlisted for restructuring team of the year at the annual Legal Business Awards.
