IFLR 1000
The Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms

Partner Moves will feature:

• All the latest lateral hires from around the globe
• Managerial appointments
• Partner promotions
• Major firm news
• Features on market trends
• Fully searchable database of historic moves

Keep an eye on www.iflr1000.com for updates.

If you have any partner moves news or major firm developments please send them to the relevant regional contact:

EMEA - James Wilson
Americas - Alli Pyrah
Asia/Pacific - Sam Duke

EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

March 2011 was a busy month for lateral hires with an unusually high tally in Paris. Across the markets the dissolution of Howrey also provided firms with opportunities to invest and swell ranks. 

In London, Holman Fenwick Willan kicked off the month with its fourth partner hire of 2011. Insurance and reinsurance partner (with a focus on Latin America) Jonathan Bruce joined from boutique firm Elborne Mitchell . At the close of the month Holman then absorbed Barlow Lyde & Gilbert’s entire aviation team of eight partners. The team will join the existing global aviation and aerospace practice.

Both Bird & Bird and Vinson & Elkins saw fit to invest in their London energy practices, with SNR Denton partners Matt Bonass and Michael Rudd moving to Bird & Bird, and V&E taking on the highly experienced Keith Hughes from Dewey & LeBoeuf ; the latter complimenting a double energy hire in New York. In the closely related projects practice, the three-partner Howard Kennedy finance team of Andrew Pike, David Hill and Deborah Mills, spun off into Burlingtons, while Stephenson Harwood welcomed two new recruits from Eversheds : Rebecca Carter and Jonathan Cripps.

Across town, Ropes & Gray secured the high level recruitment of M&A lawyer Peter Baldwin, just weeks after hiring Kiran Sharma from DLA Piper . Baldwin is a former highflyer at both Jones Day and Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft and brings with him long-cultivated relationships with Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank.

At the hard end of finance, SJ Berwin funds senior associate Daniel Greenaway accepted a partnership offer from Pinsent Masons and Hogan Lovells scooped up asset finance duo Robert Fugard and Simon Gwynne from Howrey . Mayer Brown also added Orrick finance partner Stuart McAlpine, the firm’s former European managing partner, who has experience in Singapore and Paris.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer made a big move flying in US securities partner Simone Bono from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett’s New York office together with senior associate Denise Ryan, while in one of the final plays of the month, the London office of US firm Weil Gotshal & Manges took capital markets partner Rob Ferguson from fellow US leader Shearman & Sterling .

On the other side of the Channel, Paris had an unusually active few weeks. The play of the month saw A&O swoop for three corporate lawyers from Debevoise & Plimpton . The team led by M&A/corporate partner Marc Castagnède also includes senior associates Dan Taïeb and Olivier Thebault.

Also in corporate, Weil Gotshal partner Yannick Olivier’s moved to Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel . Bird & Bird meanwhile poached Arnaud Larrousse from Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe while Bertrand Dumon jumped across from Watson Farley & Williams to join MBL Avocats.

On the projects side, Freshfields raided US rival Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker for a public law trio led by partners Pascal Cuche and Marc Lordonnois. The team had originally moved en masse from Ashurst and is strong in PPP work.

Other moves saw Lefèvre Pelletier & Associés hire two tax and real estate partners from Marccus Partners , while K&L Gates took on the experienced real estate partner Edouard Vitry from Simmons & Simmons . Jeantet Associés were also busy, recruiting Gide Loyrette Nouel energy senior associate Hugues de La Forge, who has experience of North Africa, at partner level.

In the Middle East the big news was the much talked about move of UAE corporate rainmaker Pervez Akhtar from Allen & Overy to Freshfields . Akhtar is one of the best known M&A lawyers in the region and had only recently rejoined A&O after a spell as director at private equity house Abraaj Capital. He joins Freshfields as head of corporate and is a clear sign of the magic circle firm’s ambition in the region.

In Brussels, Morrison & Foerster picked up Howrey competition partner Tom McQuail, and Linklaters snagged Jan Willem de Boer from De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek . De Boer’s hire is quite a coup as he has been heading the independent Dutch firm’s leading restructuring practice since 2008 and has been a partner there for 12 years.

A few blocks away, Crowell & Moring nabbed trade partner Laurent Ruessmann from US firm Sidley Austin .

In Germany Allen & Overy took an experienced finance team plucked from Norton Rose , including the firm’s head of banking regulatory and investment funds Frank Herring and three associates.

In Italy Ashurst opened a new office in Rome. The firm raided NCTM for corporate and restructuring partner Francesco De Gennaro and competition lawyer Domenico Gullo. Real estate partner Carmine Bruno also joined from Dewey & LeBoeuf . The recruitments follow months of restructuring of its Italian management and a number of lateral hires to its London-based Italy finance showing.

In Central Europe, DLA Piper’s Prague office prised two corporate partners from Wolf Theiss , while in Bratislava Havel Holásek and Partners made it a sixth partner hire of the year taking banking and finance lawyer Peter Suba from Squire Sanders & Dempsey .

AMERICAS

Spring fever hit the American market this month with whole teams of lawyers migrating from one firm to another. After bleeding partners for months, US firm Howrey officially dissolved in March, with what remained of its lawyers scattering across the world. Amongst the main beneficiaries were former competitors Baker Botts , Mayer Brown and Jones Day .

Baker Botts expanded its team with 36 new antitrust lawyers from Howrey, including 13 partners. Joining the stampede were Sean Boland, former co-chair of Howrey’s antitrust practice group, and former US assistant attorney generals James Rill and William Reynolds.

Mayer Brown meanwhile picked up 21 IP and antitrust lawyers from the defunct firm, including eight partners. Alan Grimaldi, former co-chair of Howrey's IP practice, was appointed as co-leader of his new firm’s global IP practice.

Jones Day also took advantage picking up another six Howrey partners this month, bringing its total to at least 18. Amongst the latest round of hires were John Froemming, the former head of Howrey's trademark group, who is joining the Washington D.C. office, and insurance recovery co-chair/Southern California office head Tyrone Childress, who is going to the Los Angeles practice.

Elsewhere in the US, DLA Piper poached a 10-lawyer team from Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge to staff its new office in Wilmington, Delaware. Five partners made the move: Stuart M. Brown, Selinda A. Melnik and R. Craig Martin (restructuring), John L Reed (corporate and litigation) and Denise Seastone Kraft (litigation). Bingham McCutchen lost partners Matt Gray, Barbara Schussman, Geoff Robinson, and Cecily Barclay to Perkins Coie’s environment, energy, and resources practice in San Francisco.

In Canada, Tory’s raided its rivals to open a new office in Calgary. Six of the seven key partners staffing the branch were from other firms; Scott Cochlan, Roy Deyholos, Kevin Fougere and Janan Paskaran from Blake Cassels and Graydon , Harold Huber from McCarthy Tétrault and Nevil Jugnauth from Macleod Dixon .
 

ASIA/PACIFIC

Most of the lateral hire news this month in the Asia/Pacific region arose from Australia.

Following the announcement that DLA Piper and DLA Phillips Fox were finalising their tie-up there came the news that nine of the Australian firm’s partners would be moving on.

Among those leaving were finance partner Andrew Kelly and corporate lawyers Phil Barnes, James Daniel, Philip Dowling and Eugene Fung. The team is expected to join Australian independent Thomsons Lawyers. The moves leave DLA with no corporate partners in Brisbane ahead of the merger.

Also down under, Gilbert + Tobin expanded their M&A capacity hiring partners Neil Pathak and Tony Bancroft from Freehills and Mallesons respectively.

The rest of the continent was comparatively quiet although K&L Gates managed to make the most of Howrey’s recent woes by hiring corporate partner Maria Tan Pederson in Hong Kong. Across in China, finance partner Fei Kwok moved to the expansionist Norton Rose from Shearman , while Jeffrey Sun Jie joined Orrick from fellow US firm Latham & Watkins .

GLOBAL MANAGEMENT MOVES