Allen & Overy has hired Shearman & Sterling’s corporate partner Hans Diekmann as a partner in its Düsseldorf office.
Diekmann, whose start date at A&O is yet to be confirmed, joined Shearman as a partner in 1999. Before that he worked in the legal department of Deutsche Bank’s headquarters in Frankfurt for over seven years. Diekmann will become the sixth partner in A&O’s Düsseldorf office, all of which have been hired in.
LPO provider Integreon has lost its business development chief John Croft to legal services provider Elevate, just weeks after CMS Cameron McKenna and Osborne Clarke scaled back their agreements with the outsourcing giant.
Elevate, whose founder is former Integreon CEO Liam Brown, announced Croft’s London-based appointment on 19 April, as the company seeks to launch a ‘new alternative legal services provider’ in the UK. Croft will establish Elevate’s technology and services in the UK and European markets.
Continue reading “Integreon loses business development chief to Elevate”
DAC Beachcroft has announced the appointment of a five-strong professional indemnity (PI) team from Morgan Cole to its Newport office.
The team, led by partner Clare Hughes-Williams, comprises one associate and three solicitors who will work as part of the professional and commercial risk practice from 1 May.
Continue reading “DAC Beachcroft boosts professional negligence practice with hire of team in Wales”
Network Rail has cut its legal roster from 12 to five core firms in a review that sees newly merged firm Dentons appointed to the panel.
Other firms awarded full service contracts for work in England and Wales are Bond Pearce (Bond Dickinson on 1 May), Eversheds and Addleshaw Goddard. Maclay Murray & Spens has been awarded the contract for Scottish law matters. All four were reappointed from the previous panel.
Continue reading “Dentons wins spot as Network Rail announces panel revamp”
King & Spalding has recruited King & Wood Mallesons Melbourne co-head of arbitration Peter Megens as a partner in its Singapore office.
Megens, a senior construction partner, is King & Spalding’s third Singapore lateral hire in under a year. Clifford Chance oil and gas partner Merrick White joined the firm in October of last year, shortly followed by project finance partner Kelly Malone from Norwegian firm Wikborg Rein in December.Malone was previously head of his firm’s global projects team.
Continue reading “King & Spalding recruits high-profile arbitrator in Singapore”
Irwin Mitchell announced yesterday (17 April) that it is to promote to partnership four non-lawyers in a bumper round of promotions.
The four will be promoted to rank of associate director, which is the equivalent of partner at the Major UK firm. They are: Manchester-based head of communications, Mark Duffell; head of talent and resourcing, Janet Sandford, and two from the operations team, David Robinson and Danny Varhalamas.
Continue reading “Irwin Mitchell promotes four non-lawyers in record partnership round”
Pinsent Masons has launched a technology media and telecoms (TMT) practice in its Singapore office through the hire of local specialist Bryan Tan. Tan is moving from
Keystone Law Corporation, a boutique law firm in Singapore specialising in TMT, where he was founding partner and director.
Continue reading “Pinsent Masons launches Singapore TMT practice with key local hire”
BHP Billiton senior executive David Williamson is set to rejoin Ashurst in Australia, where he was a lawyer at legacy firm Blake Dawson for 28 years. It is understood that he will return in June as a partner after spending three years at the mining giant.
Williamson joined the company as head of group legal in 2010 and for almost the last two years also served as chief compliance officer.
Continue reading “BHP Billiton swaps Ashurst for Herbert Smith Freehills with new legal chief”
Clyde & Co yesterday (16 April) confirmed it is to open a Madrid office following the appointment of a four-partner insurance team from DAC Beachcroft’s local office.
The team of nine lawyers, including insurance partners Ignacio Figuerol, Ricardo Garrido, Pablo Guillen and Miguel Relano, have resigned to establish the office for Clyde & Co, extending the firm’s international footprint to 18 locations across Europe, America and Asia.
Continue reading “Clydes opens in Madrid with DAC Beachcroft insurance team”
The Bar Council yesterday (16 April) launched the first ever Bar nursery at Smithfield House, in a bid to support working parents.
The central London childcare facility is the result of a campaign by the Bar Nursery Association, which was established in 2007 with the aim of promoting a family-friendly working environment and to retain female professionals after having children.
Continue reading “Bar Council launches nursery service following six-year campaign”
Deutsche Bank today (17 April) announced the appointment of Clifford Chance partner Daniela Weber-Rey as chief governance officer and deputy global head compliance in its Frankfurt office.
Weber-Rey, who is a long-serving corporate partner at Clifford Chance, will join Europe’s biggest bank by assets in June, overseeing corporate governance globally and acting as adviser to the management board on the governance structures and processes of the bank.
Continue reading “Clifford Chance partner takes up governance role at Deutsche Bank”
Keystone Law has hired ten lawyers, including six partners, from firms including Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) and Davenport Lyons.
The firm, whose lawyers work remotely from home, satellite offices or client offices, has also attracted Nokia’s director of legal and IP Stephen McCue.
Continue reading “Keystone Law adds ten lawyers to its ranks”
Baker & McKenzie has become the first global firm to merge with a leading United Arab Emirates law firm after securing a tie up with Habib Al Mulla.
The merged UAE office will be known as Baker & McKenzie Habib Al Mulla and will advise clients on local and international law across its offices in Dubai and, if it receives regulatory approval, Abu Dhabi.
Continue reading “Baker & McKenzie secures first UAE merger”
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has scored a significant coup in hiring respected Shearman & Sterling partner and head of global project development and finance Tim Pick to boost its energy and natural resources capability.
Pick, described as ‘outstanding in all respects’ in the latest edition of The Legal 500, will join as a finance partner in London and will focus on advising clients in the energy and natural resources sector in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Continue reading “Freshfields makes high-profile lateral hire with Shearman’s Pick”
Nabarro has promoted eight lawyers to its partnership, with the firm’s City office awarded the lion’s share.
The promotions, effective from 1 May 2013, are split across the construction, real estate, tax, corporate and disputes practices.
Continue reading “Nabarro’s talent programme reaps eight partner promotions”
Addleshaw Goddard real estate partner Paula Dillon is to join newly merged Bond Dickinson in its first post-merger hire.
Dillon, who was recruited by legacy Dickinson Dees before its merger with Bond Pearce, will join the Leeds office next month. The merger goes live on 1 May.
Continue reading “First partner appointment for newly merged Bond Dickinson”
CMS Cameron McKenna will reform its partnership remuneration model on 1 May, enabling salaried partners to become equity partners quicker but increasing management scrutiny on performance.
After 18 months of deliberation, the firm voted in favour of discontinuing its salaried partner level recently, achieving the required 80% majority needed to push the reforms through.
Continue reading “CMS Cameron McKenna overhauls partnership structure”
Taylor Wessing (TW) has secured a prominent lateral hire to its intellectual property team, recruiting the head of Harbottle & Lewis’ IP Group Mark Owen.
The arrival of Owen will add further strength to TW’s leading soft IP practice. The former Clifford Chance lawyer has advised significant media and entertainment clients on copyright, designs, trade mark, database rights and data privacy issues for the last 25 years.
‘Mark’s focus on new media clients and digital convergence issues aligns perfectly with Taylor Wessing’s TMT offering, while his excellent contacts and experience in Silicon Valley will be a real asset to our international practice,’ said Tim Eyles, Taylor Wessing’s UK managing partner.
Continue reading “Taylor Wessing snares Harbottles IP head Owen”
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has recruited former acting head of the criminal division at the Department of Justice (DoJ) to bolster its US white-collar practice.
Matthew Friedrich joins from US litigation firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner, where he had a partner since 2009. Prior to this, he spent 13 years at the DoJ in various leadership roles including the assistant attorney general for the criminal department, where he managed a team of 740 individuals on fraud, intellectual property and cross-border transactions by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
Continue reading “Trophy US hire for Freshfields as it lures former head of DoJ’s crime division”
It’s a sobering sign of what we’ve been reduced to when we’re praising firms for doing the obvious. This time it’s the pioneering technique of holding a little cash back to cover investment, working capital and future partner drawings, rather than doling it all out to equity partners almost as soon as it comes through the door.
Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW) and Dentons are the latest proponents of the dark art of prudence – FFW confirming it would hold back its ‘special’ profit distribution in March, while Dentons has delayed some payments over the last 18 months from the 2011/12 financial year.
Continue reading “Capital ideas – the law firm model is as stable as you make it”
