Paul Hastings led the high-profile partner moves this week, hiring two partners to lead a team across London, Paris, and Abu Dhabi, according to a source with knowledge of the firm.
The firm hired White & Case partners George Kazakov and Din Eshanov, with Kazakov based in London and Eshanov opening a new office for the firm in Abu Dhabi. Each lawyer joined White & Case as a partner in 2021, with Kazakov previously leaving Cleary Gottlieb as a senior associate in 2014 and spending the intervening seven years at Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, while Eshanov joined after over 13 years at Akin, departing as senior counsel.
The hires come after news broke last month that Jessamy Gallagher and Stuart Rowson were leaving for Freshfields. Gallagher, a Legal 500 Hall of Famer for infrastructure: M&A and acquisition financing, and Rowson, a Legal 500 leading partner for upper mid-market and premium M&A, joined Paul Hastings in February 2023 from Linklaters, where they co-headed the firm’s global infrastructure practice.
Baker McKenzie was also active this week, with two hires into its London office.
The firm brought over corporate partner Michal Berkner, who left McDermott Will & Emery last November. Berkner joined McDermott from Cooley in February 2024. She joined Cooley in 2018 from Skadden, where she qualified and later made partner in 2008. She is dual-qualified in England and Wales and New York, and brings a wealth of experience in the life sciences, healthcare, and technology sectors.
Baker McKenzie also strengthened its antitrust and competition team with its hire of Marie Leppard. Leppard joins from Euclid Law, which she joined as a partner in 2016 after leaving Clifford Chance as a senior associate. She brings expertise advising a range of corporates and financial institutions on a range of matters before EU, UK, and global regulators.
McDermott, meanwhile, hired Legal 500 corporate tax leading partner Alex Jupp as its new UK head of tax. Jupp joins McDermott after nearly 19 years at Skadden, including nine as a partner.
Jupp marks McDermott’s eleventh lateral hire in London in the last year, including recent tax hire October’s recruitment of KPMG Law’s Candice Nichol, as well as other transactional hires including Fried Frank real estate partners Darren Rogers and Devina Rana in June and Legal 500 mid-market PE leading partner Jason Zemmel in October.
Across the Atlantic, Simpson Thacher hired Willkie Farr & Gallagher tax partner Adam Aderton into its Washington DC office as a partner in its litigation department. Aderton spent two and a half years at Willkie from 2022, and before that spent 14 years at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) division of enforcement, including three years as co-chief of the enforcement asset management unit.
Covington was active in Europe, hiring Nils Wahl into its EU competition and litigation practice in Brussels. Wahl has extensive experience as a judge, including at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) from 2019 to 2024.
Elsewhere, Herbert Smith Freehills hired IP lawyer Florian Schmidt-Bogatzky from EIP Europe in Düsseldorf.
Finally, Akin continued to build in the Middle East with its hire of project finance partner Jennifer Riddle. Riddle marks the firm’s second hire from White & Case in the region after it brought over corporate partner Alexander Malahias last week. Riddle will join Malahias in working out of the firm’s Abu Dhabi office until it receives its final regulatory approval to launch in Riyadh.
