ASIA PACIFIC
PILLSBURY WINTHROP SHAW has hired corporate partners David Livdahl and Jenny Sheng – alongside three associates – from Paul Hastings to open an office in Beijing, its second in China. Sheng’s strengths are in PRC law, real estate, and private equity. Livdahl was the chair of his former firm in Beijing and is strong in cross-border M&A in the industrial sector. The new office will focus on foreign investment in China and will advise Chinese clients on investments abroad.
Australia’s fluid and unsettled market continues to create some notable movements. MCCULLOUGH ROBERTSON’s Sydney office hired Adam Wallwork – a PPP, infrastructure, resources and power expert – from King & Wood Mallesons.
India has seen a number of partner moves in short succession. Gaurav Singhi, recently made up to partner at Wadia Ghandy & Co, has decided to join J SAGAR & ASSOCIATES in Mumbai. Singhi focuses on private equity, general corporate and M&A work. At the start of August, HSA ADVOCATES welcomed Trilegal’s former head of regulatory Sakya Singha Chaudhuri. Capital markets expert Madhu Mukherjee has joined AZB & PARTNERS in New Delhi following her one-year sabbatical after leaving Luthra & Luthra. Also in New Delhi, project finance partner Ran Chakrabarti has joined INDUSLAW.
SNG & Partners’ corporate banking co-head S Babu has made his exit and is now joining ECONOMIC LAWS PRACTICE’s Mumbai office. He will join ELP Chennai in a team consisting of practice head Jeet Sengupta and ICICI’s former counsel Deep Roy.
DECHERT has finally launched its office in Singapore following its announcement earlier in the year. The firm brought in investment fund formation specialist Dean Collins as managing partner from O’Melveny & Myers. The private equity expert will focus on fund formation. Also in the city-state HOLMAN FENWICK WILLAN welcomed structured finance partner Leigh Borrello. Formerly with Norton Rose Fulbright in Sydney, he will now spend his time between Singapore and Sydney.
In Indonesia, finance partner Arisia Pusponegoro has left Lubis Ganie Surowidjojo to join LINDA WIDYATI AND PARTNERS, an affiliate firm of Clifford Chance. She acts for local and international banks on project finance pertaining to infrastructure and public-private partnerships. Elsewhere, Saw Yu Win left Baker & McKenzie Bangkok for ZICOLAW in Yangon. Saw is Myanmar-qualified and is joining her new firm as managing partner.
EUROPE
London saw its fair share of lateral hires over summer, with WILLKIE FARR & GALLAGHER leading the pack. In July the U.S. firm hired Matthew Dean and Claire McDaid from Kirkland & Ellis. The two partners will launch Willkie’s private equity practice. Another notable corporate hire in the city saw MORGAN LEWIS & BOCKIUS lure David Ramm from Edwards Wildman. Ramm headed his previous firm’s business law department. It’s the latest blow for Edwards Wildman, which has suffered a number of recent exits.
In other practice areas, project finance partner Julien Bocobza switched Shearman & Sterling for CHADBOURNE & PARKE, equity capital markets partner Daniel Simons moved from Travers Smith to HOGAN LOVELLS, and Pinsent Masons’ finance partner Matthew Heaton moved to REED SMITH.
The French market may have slowed down after its hiring frenzy in spring, but Paris still saw some notable moves over July and August. Linklaters’ M&A partner Marc Loy moved to local firm BDGS ASSOCIÉS, while Pascal Squercioni left UGGC Avocats to join FIELDFISHER’s corporate team.
Staying in western Europe, capital markets specialist Linda Taylor moved from Clifford Chance to LINKLATERS’ Milan office as a counsel. In Berlin, HERBERT SMITH FREEHILLS hired energy specialist Dirk Hamann from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, while in Dusseldorf Linklaters lost corporate partner Michael Krömker to local firm LUTHER.
Moscow also saw a number of notable moves during August. NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT has hired Julian Traill from Clifford Chance. Based in the city since 2008, Traill focuses primarily on corporate, M&A and private equity. Also in Moscow, Alexandr Shurygin has joined the partnership at local firm RULF. A former associate at Allen & Overy, Shurygin is an M&A and finance specialist. ORRICK HERRINGTON & SUTCLIFFE also expanded its Russian M&A and capital markets practice by hiring partner Konstantin Kroll from Jones Day.
Michael Lind shook up the local market in Vienna, moving from Binder Grosswang to WOLF THEISS in late July. Before his time at Binder, the M&A partner worked at Slaughter and May and Alston & Bird. Further north, WEINHOLD LEGAL lured Hogan Lovells’ Prague managing partner Miroslav Dubovský. Dubovský has been working in the city for more than 20 years, and focuses on M&A and private equity.
AMERICAS
Many of summer’s lateral moves have taken place in the corporate and M&A realm. PAUL HASTINGS hired Philip Stamatakos as a partner in Chicago in August. Formerly with Jones Day, Stamatakos specialises in M&A, joint ventures, recapitalisations, foreign investments, and distressed company transactions. In another high-profile move, corporate lawyer Richard Birns moved from Boies Schiller & Flexner to GIBSON DUNN & CRUTCHER in New York. Birns focuses on M&A and joint ventures, often with a private equity component.
In Houston BRACEWELL & GIULIANI recruited former Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft partner Michael Niebruegge. He works on loans and securitisations, and oversees negotiations among creditors and borrowers in project financings.
GREENBERG TRAURIG continued a string of hires on the east coast with the addition of securities, banking, and finance lawyer Suzanne L’Hernault as a shareholder in the firm’s New Jersey office. Previously a director in the corporate division of Gibbons, L’Hernault advises lenders in both secured and unsecured financings. In New York, Arnold & Porter scored a coup in the final week of July by hiring of Charles Bethill. Formerly with Alston & Bird, Bethill’s practice encompasses everything from private placements and term loans, to M&A, joint ventures, and corporate governance.
In the first week of August, TROUTMAN SANDERS’ New York office lured a team of four restructuring partners—Hugh McDonald, Jonathan Forstot, Patrick Fitzmaurice, and Louis Curcio—from global law firm Dentons to its office in New York. The new recruits’ clients include lenders, trustees, and purchasers of distressed debt.
SIDLEY AUSTIN has recently made two notable regulatory hires. In D.C. it hired Maria Earley from the enforcement office of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And in July the firm recruited George Madison, former general counsel at the Treasury department, as a partner in the firm’s New York banking and financial services practice. Madison joined the Treasury in September 2009 and played a direct role in shaping the Dodd-Frank Act.
In Canada, MCCARTHY TÉTRAULT’s Calgary office lured Michael Bennett to re-join the firm’s business law group as a partner. The former Norton Rose Fulbright partner acts on M&A deals, and represents issuers and underwriters in corporate financings and securities transactions.
In Mexico, CHADBOURNE & PARKE added a three-lawyer energy and infrastructure team from KPMG. Led by David Jiménez Romero, who will become managing partner of the Mexico City office, the team provides legal counsel to a variety of local companies and government agencies in the implementation of energy and infrastructure projects.
Also in Mexico City, GALICIA ABOGADOS expanded its partnership to 18 with the addition of capital markets specialist Guillermo Pérez Santiago. Pérez joins from Raz Guzmán and regularly advises financial institutions and foreign investors on financing and M&A. He joins Galicia with three lawyers, including a senior associate based in Monterrey, who will attempt to build the firm’s presence there.
The latest step in HOGAN LOVELLS’ expansion in Latin America is its merger with Mexican firm BARRERA SIQUEIROS Y TORRES LANDA. The combination became effective on August 1, and the firm will now operate in Mexico City and Monterrey as Hogan Lovells BSTL. The combined entity will have a partnership of 16, and will specialise in corporate, commercial, disputes, energy, realeestate, telecoms and media, and transport work.
Finally in the Dominican Republic, QUIROZ SANTRONI has announced its hire of former Headrick Rizik Alvarez & Fernandez partner Hipólito García. Garcia will oversee firm’s banking and finance practice group, and will focus on corporate finance, project finance, and M&A.