Weil Gotshal & Manges' Budapest team is joining Bird & Bird, and the US firm will close its only office in Hungary.
All 20 of legal staff at Siegler Law Office / Weil Gotshal & Manges will move to Knight Bird & Bird Iroda on February 1 and Weil will close its branch on the same day.
The 20 lawyer team comprises two partners, three senior counsel, 10 associates and five trainees. The partners are Konrad Siegler and David Dederick, banking and finance and coprorate law specialists respectively. Siegler is widely regarded as one of leading Hungarian law capital markets experts and Dederick, who is currenlty managing partner of Weil's Hungarian branch and will co-head Bird & Bird's, is an experienced M&A specialist.
Knight Bird & Bird Iroda, the moniker the UK firm uses to comply with Hungary's bar requirements, currently has a team of 10 lawyers in Budapest.
In hiring Weil's Hungarian arm, Bird & Bird has secured a team experienced in all areas of transactional work and with close relationships to various state-controlled companies.