Sidley Austin has continued its recent London recruitment spree with the hire of a trio of funds partners from Weil, including private funds head Ed Gander (pictured).
Gander, a Legal 500 Hall of Famer for private funds who also co-headed the global group, will now head up the private funds practice at Sidley, working alongside fellow partners Peter Boulle and Steven Fox, who are joining him in the move from Weil.
The trio will become part of a six-partner cross-practice London-based
funds team, which includes EU/UK financial services and regulatory funds
head Leonard Ng, Oren Gertner and Blake Fillion.
The moves are the latest in a stream of lateral hires for Sidley in London, including last month’s recruitment of Latham corporate co-chair David Stewart and capital markets partner Vladimir Mikhailovsky, as well as eight leveraged finance partners led by Jay Sadanandan and Sam Hamilton.
In a statement, Sidley London managing partner Tom Thesing said he was excited to welcome ‘market-leader’ Gander to the firm.
‘The experience and deep sector knowledge of the team are highly synergetic with our recent arrivals as we look to unlock new opportunities for our clients,’ Thesing added. ‘Our firm works with more than 200 of the leading global sponsors and by adding Ed, Steve, and Peter, we are continuing our transformational growth in London to service our clients legal needs.’
Elsewhere, Linklaters has also made a clutch of hires, bringing over Matthew Hodgson from A&O Shearman as head of public international law, as well as leveraged finance duo Angel Quek from Latham and Peter Hayes from Paul Hastings, the latter a Legal 500 leading partner in investment-grade debt and syndicated loans.
Paul Weiss has continued its London build-out with a duo of A&O Shearman hires including digital infrastructure partner and Legal 500 IT and telecoms leading partner Tom Levine, as well as restructuring partner Nick Charlwood, expanding the City practice it launched last July with its hire of Akin’s Liz Osborne, who joined as head of European restructuring.
Also hiring from A&O Shearman was McDermott, newly set to merge with US firm Schulte Roth, which hired financing and restructuring transactions specialist Kathleen Wong into its transactions practice group in London.
Meanwhile in London, Freshfields brought energy and infrastructure partner Alistair McKechnie over from Paul Hastings. McKechnie’s move reunites him with his Paul Hastings colleagues Jessamy Gallagher and Stuart Rowson, who moved to Freshfields in February after just two years at Paul Hastings.
Private equity partners David D’Souza and Ambarish Dash left Herbert Smith Freehils for Morrison Foerster. The moves mark the third and fourth London departures from HSF since the firm voted through its transatlantic merger with Kramer Levin at the start of April, with fellow PE partner Joseph Dennis set to join Dechert and product liability partner Philip Pfeffer moving to Jones Day in New York.
White & Case hired antitrust partner and Legal 500 EU and competition Hall of Famer Euan Barrows from Ashurst, where he was global head of the antitrust, regulation, and trade team.
At the same time, White & Case also saw two departures in London, with corporate trustee partner Kevin Ng heading to Mayer Brown, and energy-focused international arbitration partner Jonathan Brierley jumping to Akin, where he reunites with international arbitration head Mark Clarke, who left White & Case as London commercial disputes head in February 2023 and joined Akin in January after a stint in-house at Proman. Akin also hired Orrick tech and IP partner Natasha Ahmed.
Browne Jacobson was also active in the international arbitration space, bringing over Bernhard Maier from Signature Litigation as arbitration practice head. The firm also hired a new commercial dispute resolution head, welcoming Danielle Carr from Rosenblatt, which relaunched as an independent firm in January amid the collapse of RBG Holdings, former parent company of both Rosenblatt and Memery Crystal.
Jones Day made three hires in London, bringing over DLA Piper corporate partner Piero Carbone and Kennedys product liability litigators Samantha Silver and Nathalie Smyth. Carbone is a Legal 500 leading partner for midmarket PE deals, while Silver headed the products law and life sciences team at Kennedys.
Real estate was a focus for Bird & Bird and Travers Smith, with Bird & Bird hiring commercial real estate partner Simon Price from Mayer Brown, and Travers hiring CMS senior associate Robert Payne as a senior counsel to head its property litigation team.
Meanwhile, Temple Bright and Pinsent Masons each made hires in pensions, bringing over Clifford Chance London pensions head and Legal 500 noncontentious pensions leading partner Hywel Robinson, and Linklaters special counsel Anna Taylor respectively.
Taylor Wessing hired financial services regulatory partner William Garner from Charles Russell Speechlys, while Jenner & Block hired Hill Dickinson partner Will Jones into its London public law and crisis management practice as a special counsel.
Finally in London, Morgan Lewis and Fladgate each made tax hires, bringing over Milbank special counsel Andrew Callaghan, who joins Milbank as a partner, and Stephenson Harwood private client tax partner Emily Osborne respectively.
Across the Atlantic, Cahill hired a three-partner IP team from King & Spalding, bringing over Britton Davis, Alfonso Garcia Chan, and K&S innovation protection group leader Chris Campbell, who joins Cahill as tech IP litigation chair.
Meanwhile in New York, Simpson Thacher hired Laura Brett as head of its advertising advisory and litigation practice. Brett joins from industry self-regulation nonprofit BBB National Programs, where she was vice president of the national advertising division from 2019 to February this year.
Finally in the United States, Ashurst expanded its projects practice with the hire of Norton Rose Fulbright senior counsel Rhodri Evans. Evans becomes the fourth partner in the firm’s Los Angeles office, according to the firm’s website.
Elsewhere, HFW hired energy disputes partner Shaun Leong from Withers in Singapore, while Bird & Bird hired corporate partners Sebastian Weller from ADVANT Beiten in Düsseldorf, Shahin Foroughian in Singapore, and Matthijs van Leeuwen from in Amsterdam. Foroughian and van Leeuwen both join from NRF, where they were a counsel and a legal consultant respectively.
Eversheds Sutherland was also active in Amsterdam, hiring DLA Piper M&A partner and Netherlands energy and natural resources practice cohead Pieter Paul Terpstra. DLA also saw Spain real estate head Orson Alcocer depart for Hogan Lovells in Madrid, where he will lead the firm’s real estate practice.
Finally, Paul Hastings picked up its fourth infrastructure partner from White & Case, bringing over Ibaad Hakim, following its March hires of George Kazakov and Din Eshanov and its April hire of Zavier Pettet in Paris. Hakim is a Legal 500 next-generation partner for construction in the UAE, and joins the firm’s new Abu Dhabi office, established and co-led by Kazakov and Eshanov.
