Willkie Farr & Gallagher has hired Clifford Chance’s former UK competition head as a partner in London.
Greg Olsen will join after stepping down as an ordinary member of the Competition Appeal Tribunal. Before that, he spent 17 years at Clifford Chance, where he served as the firm’s UK competition leader until 2024. He previously held the same role at Jones Day, where he spent six years before moving to Clifford Chance.
Olsen’s practice focuses on UK and EU competition matters, including mergers, joint ventures, market investigations, cartels and antitrust.
Willkie’s chairman Matthew Feldman commented: ‘[Olsen’s] arrival is the latest demonstration of our continued investment in our global antitrust & competition practice. His varied experience, including representing some of the world’s leading corporate, private equity, and financial institutions, will benefit our clients as they continue to navigate a changing regulatory landscape.’
Ropes & Gray has also looked to Clifford Chance for a recent London hire, bringing in private equity specialist Lavinia Ralli in London.
Ralli joins as a partner following a year as counsel at Clifford Chance. Prior to this she served as global head of investment legal at Partners Group, a private equity firm and long-standing client of Ropes & Gray.
Her arrival follows a series of senior transactional hires in Europe this year. These include private equity and M&A partners Paul Dali, the former GC of key client EQT, and Alessandro Capogrosso, who joined from PedersoliGattai in Milan.
In late January, the firm also added funds partner Edouard Chapellier and tax partner Jonathan Abensour, alongside eight associates, from Linklaters in Paris.
Also in the City, Cohen & Gresser has hired private equity partner Olga Ponomarenko from Latham & Watkins.
Ponomarenko advises clients including PE sponsors, sovereign wealth funds, and financial institutions on a wide range of M&A transactions. She previously spent 18 years at Latham, making partner in 2018, and she joins alongside associate Irina Bratishkina, from Cleary.
Elsewhere, Goodwin has hired City venture and growth equity funds partner Ed Kingsbury.
He joins from CMS, where he spent seven years as a funds partner, after three years as a senior associate in Dechert’s financial services group.
In Australia, White & Case has hired private capital and M&A partner Alex Elser from King & Wood Mallesons in Sydney, where she served seven years on its private equity team.
Elser’s practice spans all aspects of transactional work for private equity sponsors, including Blackstone, KKR, Apollo and EQT.
In Europe, Simmons & Simmons has added two private equity partners to its bench.
In Frankfurt, Hans Peter Leube joins following a two-year stint at Morgan Lewis. Prior to this he served just under ten years at Bird & Bird, where he was co-head of the firm-wide private equity group.
In Amsterdam, the firm has hired Vincent Dogan, who joins from A&O Shearman where he was senior associate.
Back in the UK, Eversheds Sutherland has appointed a new general counsel.
Andrew Cheung joins from Pinsent Masons, where he spent three years as GC. Prior to this he served 13 years as general counsel and then partner at Dentons in Dubai, leading the firm’s Middle East compliance and regulatory investigations practice and the Dubai commercial disputes and arbitration practice between 2020 and 2023.
Also making operational moves was Kennedys, as the insurance specialist firm has hired Milan Devani as its global chief information officer.
Devani joins from Baker McKenzie, where he was most recently the director of global infrastructure. He spent more than 26 years at the firm, first joining as a European support specialist in 1998 and returning in 2000 after ten months at then-Nabarro Nathanson.
Womble Bond Dickinson has hired real estate lawyer Andrew Yates as head of living capital in London. He joins from DLA Piper where he spent three years as coordinator of international living capital.
Greenberg Traurig made two hires into its London office recently, bringing in both real estate partner Simon Elliott from Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer and media and entertainment partner Robert Turner from Bird & Bird, who is recognised as a Legal 500 next-generation partner for sport.
Kingsley Napley has hired tax partner Kelly Grieg, who joins from Blick Rothenberg, an accounting, tax and advisory firm where she was a private client partner servicing high net-worth individuals.
She is joined by Abbie West-Kelsey as a tax manager, who also, until August 2025, worked at Blick Rothernberg, as an assistant tax manager.
Freeths has hired seven lawyers into its employment and pensions team, including one partner in London and one in Bristol, as well as one managing associate and four associates.
Melanie Stancliffe joins following six years at Cripps Pemberton Greenish as an employment partner in London, while James Dean joins as pensions partner and head of the pensions team in Bristol. Prior to this, he served eight at Simmons & Simmons.
Squire Patton Boggs has hired Gemma Hanley, who was previously head of Pensions at Eversheds Sutherland in Leeds, as well as Matthew Harris, who joined the intellectual property and technology practice in Birmingham from Gowling WLG.
Finally, Brodies has hired Levy & McRae partner Neil Hay. A Legal 500 leading partner for crime in Scotland, Hay moves to Brodies alongside a legal director and a solicitor.
Hogan Lovells partner Angus Coulter (pictured), the former head of the firm’s London competition team, describes the CMA’s current stance as
