Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has been hit by a string of key departures from its lucrative disputes practice.
Simon Bushell, who co-chaired the corporate fraud and asset tracing group at HSF, is set to join Latham & Watkins’ City office imminently. His departure marks the fourth high-profile litigation exit since the start of the year after Martyn Hopper, who was head of the firm’s successful financial services regulation practice, and Nikunj Kiri both left for Linklaters in January.
White-collar crime counsel Nichola Peters moved last month to Addleshaw Goddard, and senior litigator Kevin Lloyd left for Debevoise & Plimpton at the end of last year.
Global head of disputes for HSF, Sonya Leydecker, was fairly unconcerned about the departures. ‘Internationalisation of our practice has been very successful and is ongoing with new openings in South Korea and Germany. The merger has provided further strength in depth in addition to a series of strategic hires and internal promotions in the last few years. As a result, we have over 130 disputes partners and 500 disputes associates worldwide. We have a clear vision and are confident about the future development of our practice,’ she said.
However, senior litigators at rival firms believe that a number of other HSF litigation partners are either negotiating their exits or are on the market.
Such departures would be viewed as a setback. HSF’s litigation practice billed roughly £130m in 2011/12, equating to 41% of the legacy UK firm’s revenue.
The departures are thought to be linked to the merger between Herbert Smith and Australia’s Freehills. It is understood that a number of the departing partners were not in favour of the tie-up, which took effect in October last year.
Despite indications of unrest in HSF’s core City practice, the firm has just secured a key strategic aim after recruiting a senior corporate partner from former ally Gleiss Lutz to launch a German law practice. Corporate veteran Ralf Thaeter has signed on to launch HSF’s practice in Frankfurt during the second quarter of 2013 with the firm gearing up for additional launches in Dusseldorf and Munich.