Greenberg Traurig has hired Dentons London-based co-head of global real estate Eric Rosedale as its co-chair of international real estate. Continue reading “Greenberg Traurig hires Dentons London-based co-head of global real estate”
Latham goes green with latest City hire of Macfarlanes environmentalist Paul Davies
In the latest of a series of heavyweight City hires, Latham & Watkins is to bring in Macfarlanes’ environmental specialist Paul Davies as a partner in its environment, land and resources group. Continue reading “Latham goes green with latest City hire of Macfarlanes environmentalist Paul Davies”
Ashurst finance partner Simon Thrower latest to leave with move to Simmons
Ashurst finance partner Simon Thrower has quit to join Simmons & Simmons’ City practice within days of the announcement that corporate partner Nigel Stacey is leaving for US firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Continue reading “Ashurst finance partner Simon Thrower latest to leave with move to Simmons”
Ashurst corporate partner Nigel Stacey quits for Gibson Dunn’s City office
Ashurst’s corporate partner Nigel Stacey has quit the firm to join the London office of Los Angeles-founded firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
Stacey, who focuses on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and general corporate matters, follows in the footsteps of fellow corporate partner Jonathan Earle, who left Ashurst in April after being with the firm for 16 years. Continue reading “Ashurst corporate partner Nigel Stacey quits for Gibson Dunn’s City office”
Revolving Doors: HSF’s Rosen QC returns to the Bar; laterals for Weil Gotshal; Simmons; Rosenblatt and Payne Hicks
The latest standout lateral moves have seen Herbert Smith Freehills’ (HSF) former advocacy chief Murray Rosen QC return to the Bar, as Weil Gotshal & Manges boosts its City finance practice, Simmons & Simmons expands in Bristol, with further partner hires at Rosenblatt Solicitors and Payne Hicks Beach.
Weil’s City banking head Stephen Lucas joins Kirkland
One of the best-known names in the leverage buyout market, Stephen Lucas, is set to join Kirkland & Ellis from Weil, Gotshal & Manges, where he heads the Wall Street firm’s City banking practice.
Lucas handed in his resignation last month and leaves Weil Gotshal just three years after he joined in June 2011 from Linklaters, where he was a banking partner. Prior to that, he was a partner at Magic Circle rival Clifford Chance.
He will be replaced as banking head at Weil by former Hogan Lovells partner Mark Donald.
Continue reading “Weil’s City banking head Stephen Lucas joins Kirkland”
Partner recruitment: buyer beware
If the oxymoronic notion of partner recruitment didn’t exist who would invent it? On one level, of course, its emergence in the legal profession was inevitable given wider changes in careers and attitudes to work. Without some form of partner mobility law firms would become inflexibly segmented and partners effectively bound to a single employer.
But, as has been noted with increasing frequency in recent years, the returns on partner recruitment can be wildly uneven and often deliver only moderate or poor benefits. The emergence over the last 15 years of a sideways recruitment market for so-so partners moving between similar law firms – as opposed to a start-up or better platform – is also a challenge for law firms in retaining their own partners. No wonder one prominent legal consultant recently wrote of the lateral ‘arms race’ – denoting a contest fraught with difficulty and danger that parties still feel they have no choice but to enter.
Strategic Recruitment: The Product
The debate over the value of partner recruitment has intensified in recent years. Legal Business analyses hiring trends at top 50 firms and assesses the link between lateral hiring and financial performance
The mixed fortunes of law firms in recruiting partners can be summed up using a simple compare and contrast exercise. Compare the fanfare surrounding Kirkland & Ellis’ May hire of leveraged finance heavyweight Stephen Lucas from Weil, Gotshal & Manges and contrast it with, at the other end of the spectrum, this observation on one top 100 UK firm: ‘A firm can either pay more, or accept someone who is slightly mental but has a book of business. Continue reading “Strategic Recruitment: The Product”
Strategic Recruitment: What Lies Beneath
More law firms are formally vetting potential senior recruits. Legal Business investigates the growth – and controversies – of partner due diligence.
The legacy of failed lateral hires can damage reputations and even affect the finances of a firm, and this can be particularly galling when the failure is down to an absence of basic due diligence, or that process is flawed. Even the most established firms can get things badly wrong. One recruitment consultant recalls the time a Magic Circle partner called an old law school colleague for their opinion on a potential candidate. As it turned out, the old school chum was the potential recruit’s current boss.
18 months’ notice commuted to eight – Field Fisher’s Eduardo Ustaran joins Hogan Lovells
Field Fisher’s high profile former head of privacy Eduardo Ustaran joins Hogan Lovells today (4 June), almost a year before the expiry of the exceptional 18-month notice period announced at the time of his resignation last October. Continue reading “18 months’ notice commuted to eight – Field Fisher’s Eduardo Ustaran joins Hogan Lovells”