US firms in the City continue to demonstrate their appetite for big name lateral hires from leading UK firms, with Latham & Watkins and Reed Smith picking up experienced partners from Clifford Chance (CC) recently, while Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan announced the hire of disputes expert Ted Greeno from Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF).
Latham & Watkins’ acquisition of CC’s global head of private equity, David Walker, particularly caught the eye last month. This is one of the most significant blows to CC’s corporate practice since the departure of Adam Signy to Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in 2009.
Walker’s relationship with The Carlyle Group would have been a major attraction to Latham. Walker has enjoyed considerable success in advising the US private equity house in European buyouts, while Latham has a longstanding relationship with Carlyle in the US.
Former Latham associate, Jeffrey Ferguson, is general counsel at Carlyle and sits on the management board. One private equity partner at a rival US firm in London suggested that Ferguson would have recommended that Latham pursue Walker to strengthen its London offering. Ferguson declined to comment, while CC said that Carlyle remains a client of the firm.
Walker joined CC in 1991 and became a partner in the London corporate team in 2000. Aside from private equity, his practice covers venture capital, fundraisings and general M&A work. Walker advised Equistone Partners Europe (previously known as Barclays Private Equity) on the sale of travel services firm Global Blue to Silver Lake for E1bn in May last year.
‘We are delighted at the prospect of David joining our team. His arrival marks another milestone in the expansion of our vibrant and growing London office, which is approaching 250 lawyers,’ said Latham London managing partner Nick Cline.
CC also saw another partner depart to a US firm in April, this time from its finance practice. Reed Smith announced the hire of Claude Brown to bolster its nascent structured finance practice in London – a practice only launched last year, when the Pittsburgh-based firm recruited Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP)’s Tamara Box, who is now global head of structured finance.
Brown has followed another former CC finance colleague to Reed Smith, Peter Zaman, who joined the firm in 2012. Other hires in the area last year include former BLP senior associate Helena Nathanson and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer associate Nick Stainthorpe, both of whom became partners at Reed Smith.
‘They’re laterals going into a full-service business but with significant growth potential,’ said Box. ‘We attract people with an entrepreneurial flair who are perhaps looking to spread their wings a bit more than they’ve been allowed to in their current firms.’
One of the worst kept secrets in the City legal market was also confirmed at the end of March, when top-rated litigator Greeno resigned from HSF to join Quinn Emanuel.
This is the second significant departure from HSF’s disputes team to a US firm announced so far this year, after corporate fraud and asset tracing head Simon Bushell left for Latham. Another senior litigator, Kevin Lloyd, joined the London office of Debevoise & Plimpton in December last year.
The draw of US firms stands out in sharp relief when a partner so entrenched in a firm as Greeno was at HSF moves on. As reported in our Global London review last month, there were clear signs of US firms pushing ahead with their lateral hire programmes in London during 2012.