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

Jones Day also transferred Corinne Ball, who headed the firm’s representation of Chrysler during its bankruptcy, who will head up the firm’s European M&A and restructuring team from New York.

Jones Day, in turn, watched its European private equity head Michael Nouril, and the senior partner Russell Carmedy, London managing partner since 2003, hand in their notices. It has been reported that the pair are likely to move to the smaller London offices of Proskauer Rose .

DLA Piper lost its global litigation co-head Neil Gerrard and EMEA head of corporate crime and investigations Jonathan Pickworth, both to Dechert . Only three days later the firm also lost its head of EMEA private equity Will Rosen, who will be moving to Ropes & Gray . The end of the month saw insolvency partner Stewart Perry move to Clyde & Co , and real estate partner David Taylor to Pinsent Masons .

These final departures cap a shaky three months for DLA Piper , during which the firm lost eight partners in Germany and two in London in February, one in London and three in Brussels in March, and five in London in April.

Ropes & Gray’s recruitment of Will Rosen, who joined DLA Piper in 2008 from the partnership of Weil Gotshal & Manges , will be reinforced with the transfer of Boston-based private-equity partner Bill Mone to Ropes’ London office in August 2011.

Elsewhere in the City, Berwin Leighton Paisner hired Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker’s London finance head Keith Wilson, a regular adviser to clients such as Texaco/Chevron, Addax Petroleum, Xerox and Erste Group Bank. Wilson joins BLP as an equity partner in the asset finance team; his hire follows that of private equity partner Rupert Ticehurst from Herbert Smith in February . Banking and capital markets veteran Mark Waghorn also announced his departure after 21 years at BLP.

Still in London, Nabarro replaced real estate partner Duncan Hubbard, who left in February to Norton Rose , with Philip Olmer from Reed Smith .

Among the US firms, Martin Hunt announced his move to the London office of King & Spalding as a partner in the international transactions practice. He was formerly a corporate partner at Bracewell & Guiliani , practicing out of New York and London. King & Spalding now has twelve partners based in London, while Bracewell is left with just one.

Hunt, who joined Bracewell in 1995 after having worked at Slaughter and May , is a regular counsel to Royal Dutch Shell.

Across the Channel, Paris saw an unusual amount of activity with 14 lateral moves being reported; only partly a result of McDermott Will & Emery’s launch of a new five-partner office in Paris. McDermott will largely organise its new office around Jacques Buhart, the former corporate head of Herbert Smith in the city.

Elsewhere, Jones Day’s Paris office hired Seoul-based corporate partner Philippe Li from Korean firm Kim & Chang to strengthen the firm’s multi-jurisdictional and Asia expertise.

The move marks a strategic shift in the role of the Paris office to work on what the firm called a “commitment to developing a strong Paris-based Korea practice”.

Simmons & Simmons lost energy partner Christophe Asselineau to Shearman & Sterling , while Landwell & Associés lost three partners to Jeantet Associés as well as pharmaceutical and healthcare expert Michèle Anahory to Simmons & Simmons.

Elsewhere in Paris, Herbert Smith hired finance lawyer Eric Fiszelson from Linklaters .

In Luxembourg, White & Case lost Brussels competition partner Alastair Sutton to London barristers Brink Court Chambers .

Poland also saw a number of transfers, with Schoenherr’s Warsaw office poaching the magic circle trained M&A partner Katarzyna Terlecka from Allen & Overy (and before that Clifford Chance) and finding a new managing partner in private equity and M&A partner, Florian Cvak.

In the Baltics, Lawin completed its merger with the ten-lawyer litigation and arbitration boutique Smaliukas & Partners , in the process adding Andrius Smaliukas to its partnership.

Dubai saw movements in the aviation area with Gates and Partners hiring Clyde & Co partners Anthony Frances and Jim Edmunds.  Pinsent Masons also nabbed Baker & McKenzie project finance partner Simon Harvey.

Finally, a very significant east African move saw Krista Bates joining Kenyan Africa Legal Network firm Anjarwalla & Khanna . A former Linklaters lawyer, Bates is very well regarded in the region.

She previously headed AKO Law in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, which has been developing a closer relationship with Clyde & Co through the new office head Peter Gray.