City ambitions – Mayer Brown adds to London laterals tally with hire of BLP finance partner

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Mayer Brown has added to its tally of recent London hires as Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) finance and restructuring partner Trevor Wood joins the US firm.

Wood will be reunited with former BLP banking and finance partner Richard Todd when he joins 1,536-lawyer Mayer Brown, which has made six lateral hires in its London office in the last month, compared to just five in 2012.

Meanwhile, BLP’s partner departures continue in the wake of the firm’s disclosure in September that its profits for 2012/13 are down by nearly 40%. The firm also unveiled a drop in revenues this summer of 5% to £233m, making it the worst financial performer of the top 25 UK firms.

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More Paris moves as Linklaters announces triple partner hire

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Further movement in the Paris market has seen Linklaters announce a trio of high level hires as Matthieu de Boisséson, Pierre Duprey and Roland Ziadé join as partners in its Paris office in a move to boost the Magic Circle firm’s arbitration offering.

Duprey arrives from Paris firm Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier, where he spent 11 years as an arbitrator, and he is joined by of counsel Andrew Plump. Ziadé comes over from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton where he was counsel, and de Boisséson was a tenant with Littleton Chambers. While at Littleton Chambers, de Boisséson worked on about 90 cases as chairman or co-arbitrator in the International Criminal Court. He oversaw cases in the construction, telecommunications, oil, and mining and pharmaceuticals industries. Continue reading “More Paris moves as Linklaters announces triple partner hire”

Revolving Doors: SJ Berwin corporate heavyweight Harris to Hogan Lovells as Bingham and Bond Dicks make key hires

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Just weeks away from its merger with King Wood & Mallesons, SJ Berwin corporate heavyweight Ed Harris is leaving for Hogan Lovells as Bingham McCutcheon also raids Jones Day to build its London competition team and Osborne Clarke’s remaining two-partner private client team joins Bond Dickinson.

Harris, who will move across to Hogan Lovells on an unknown date as a result of ongoing negotiations with management, has been at SJ Berwin since 2007 and has advised a number of high profile clients including Terra Firma, Pantheon Ventures Investindustrial, EQT, Actavis and Constellation Software Inc. Continue reading “Revolving Doors: SJ Berwin corporate heavyweight Harris to Hogan Lovells as Bingham and Bond Dicks make key hires”

Growth plans: Osborne Clarke continues lateral hiring spree

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Osborne Clarke (OC) has made its 25th lateral hire in 18 months, while managing partner Simon Beswick has revealed plans for the firm to continue to build out internationally.

Former Pinsent Masons partner Andrew Normington, who will join 600-lawyer OC’s infrastructure and project finance team, specialises in providing advice to sponsors and financial institutions with particular focus on European economic infrastructure and energy projects.

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Revolving Doors: Strategic hires for WilmerHale, Eversheds, Irwin Mitchell and DWF

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As former co-head of Bird & Bird’s London-based international life sciences sector group and rated intellectual property (IP) litigation partner Trevor Cook joins WilmerHale’s New York office, Irwin Mitchell this week took on Pinsent Masons former dispute resolution and litigation head Nigel Kissack and Squire Sanders IP partner Alex Newman, while in Birmingham, Eversheds and DWF pulled in international rail partner Andrew Herring and real estate partner Melanie Williams respectively. Continue reading “Revolving Doors: Strategic hires for WilmerHale, Eversheds, Irwin Mitchell and DWF”

Linklaters private equity ambitions dealt a blow by departure of Bagshaw and Youle

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Linklaters‘ now decade-long effort to carve a credible position in the private equity market has been dealt a serious blow as co-heads Ian Bagshaw (pictured) and Richard Youle leave to join White & Case.

The high profile pair, long-term friends having started their careers together at Eversheds, had to build the Magic Circle firm’s private equity practice almost from scratch after the departure of Graham White and Raymond McKeeve in 2007, although it has been an enduring irony that their own reputations in private equity exceed that of the firm. Continue reading “Linklaters private equity ambitions dealt a blow by departure of Bagshaw and Youle”

Paris walk out: Gide hires nine partner team from Morgan Lewis

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The highly fluid Paris market has seen nine partners and ten associates walk out of Morgan Lewis & Bockius’ regional office to join Gide Loyrette Nouel, leaving the US firm with just three local partners.

Senior exits include Paris managing partner Anne Tolila and partner Jean Leygonie, who both left De Pardieu Brocas Maffei & Leygonie to launch Morgan Lewis’ Paris office in 2004.

Tax partner Christian Nouel, who only joined Morgan Lewis in September last year from Paris-based STC, having previously headed Latham & Watkins Paris tax practice, is among those leaving the firm.

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Key real estate and construction hires for Macfarlanes, Taylor Wessing and Withers

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Property and construction lawyers are taking advantage of being back in vogue with a number of high profile moves in the sector this week including Ashurst partner Anthony Burnett-Scott’s move to Macfarlanes, Nabarro’s head of infrastructure Matthew Jones to Taylor Wessing and Wither’s hire of Fenwick Elliott real estate partner Julie Teal.

At Taylor Wessing, Jones will join the construction and engineering group, working closely with the firm’s real estate group, its planning, funds and tax teams and its banking group in relation to real estate acquisitions and development finance. Continue reading “Key real estate and construction hires for Macfarlanes, Taylor Wessing and Withers”

Acquisitive streak: DWF takes on a 50-strong team from Greenwoods

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DWF has continued its highly acquisitive streak with the announcement today (11 October) that it has taken on an 11-partner, 50-strong team from LB100 insurance specialist firm Greenwoods.

A statement from Greenwoods said today: ‘Following its merger with Plexus Law in May 2013, Greenwoods has agreed the TUPE transfer of 11 partners and their teams. The transfer to DWF will take place on Monday 28 October.’

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Strategic hires: Field Fisher head of privacy to join Hogan Lovells but held to 19 month notice period

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Hogan Lovells has moved to significantly boost its European privacy capability with the hire of Field Fisher Waterhouse group head Eduardo Ustaran as the departing lawyer is held to a 19 month notice period by his firm.

Having built and led Field Fisher’s first-tier privacy and information law group, heavyweight Ustaran will join 2527-lawyer Hogan Lovells’ global privacy and information practice to manage its European capability. Continue reading “Strategic hires: Field Fisher head of privacy to join Hogan Lovells but held to 19 month notice period”