Headline Partner Moves in London May September 2017

Transcription

1 Headline Partner Moves in London May September 2017 Introduction It s been a strange few months in the lateral recruitment market. After a hectic start to 2017, dominated by the scramble for KWM partners and teams, the last few months have seen a definite lull in terms of new hires being announced. This report tracks 118 partner hires, as against 145 at the same time last year. The partner recruitment cycle from firms instructing recruiters, to a partner actually sitting down at his/her new desk, is probably 12 months on average (including notice periods) so we suspect that much of this slowdown is a direct result of firms and individuals putting recruitment on hold in the immediate aftermath of the Brexit vote last summer. However, the City is nothing if not resilient and, certainly in terms of recruitment, the market now seems to be carrying on pretty much as normal. Firms are still relatively bullish about their prospects, and the battle for talent has been renewed. We wait to see whether our next report (due out in January 2018) is more of a bumper edition but, what we can say, is that we have returned from the

2 summer to a whole raft of new partner instructions, and it is clear that law firms in the City continue to view lateral recruitment as one of the most effective ways to grow their market share. What is marked in this report is that the leading US firms which have done so much recruitment in the City over the last 10 years, are notable largely by their absence. We report on only 6 partner moves (plus a Counsel) to firms with a PEP of $3million plus in this report. In our 2016 May to September report, we noted 16 such hires, with Latham & Watkins alone taking on 9 new partners. However, elsewhere in the market, other US firms have continued to attract partners at pace, with Locke Lord, McGuireWoods and Haynes and Boone CDG (amongst others) all actively hiring over the past few months. Noticeably, there isn t a single partner move into the Magic Circle in this report (as against 3 partner hires during the same period last year, and 9 since then). We don t yet read anything into this blip, but will certainly watch with interest to see what happens over coming months. While the Magic Circle has been quiet in attracting partner talent, departees from these firms have continued to feed the rest of the market, with 17 people featured in this report coming out of Freshfields, Clifford Chance and Allen & Overy. Nine of these were senior associates or counsel, clearly moving elsewhere for career progression, and this remains a surprisingly busy part of the market. Indeed, of the 118 moves in this report, 25 were non-partners moving for immediate partnership. Baker McKenzie, who are the most prolific recruiters in this report, recruited 5 people at this level.

3 How to recruit partner talent We have also noticed a shift in the methods firms are using to find talent, with retained search seemingly coming back into fashion. Many firms have moved away from search over the past few years on the basis that, with so much fluidity in the market, there was no need to work exclusively with one recruiter to attract partners. However, we have detected a definite shift back towards exclusive assignments this year. Our sense is that there is less opportunistic hiring in a slightly more uncertain post-brexit world, but that firms are still serious about hiring senior talent. The advantage of search is that it allows firms to control the message to their target market and, with partners receiving more calls than ever before, a tailored call about one specific opportunity stands out. We are currently working on an exclusive basis in practice areas as diverse as tax, insurance, patent litigation, energy, pensions, structured finance and restructuring, for a whole variety of firms, from Magic Circle powerhouses to regional firms looking to break into the London market. Search isn t always the answer and the majority of partner moves are still as a result of contingent introductions but, where a firm has a specific strategic gap in an area where good partners are hard to find, a bespoke project to map the market and then really target certain individuals can be very potent. Beware of (some) recruiters! Perhaps this return to search is partly a response to an increase in the number of (for want of a better word!) dodgy recruiters flooding the market. Law firm partners, who operate in a regulated and (largely) admired profession, express shock that sometimes the candidate whose details have landed on their desk has never even met, let alone authorised, the recruiter to make the approach! There are some great recruiters in the market, but there are also far too many sharks. While it is unfair to generalise, we would urge people to be particularly suspicious of recruiters who are based outside of the UK if you are a UK partner looking for a new job in London, would you really instruct a recruiter in Los Angeles? If the recruiter doesn t have a website, or seems only to dabble in legal recruitment, we would also suggest that you proceed cautiously. We also note that, while being an ex-city lawyer doesn t automatically make you a great recruiter, it is no coincidence that many leading partner recruiters in the City have worked for law firms earlier in their careers. If you are sat at your desk, and a call comes through from someone claiming to represent a named firm, keep in mind that this is often pure fantasy! They are trying to entice you to agree to a conversation with a firm and, if they succeed, their next call is to that very firm, where they will claim that you have expressly authorised them to make the approach. Be cautious and, for example, pause to ask yourself: why would a leading City/top international firm engage a head-hunter in Texas to approach you? Sometimes these recruiters are legitimate, but we are seeing far too much dealmaking at present. Time and again, we also see scenarios where a recruiter has managed to meet a partner and run a long list of firms past them for their consideration. The partner has said that they will think about the list but, before they know it, their profile has gone to the entire list of firms. The recruiter is hoping for interest from one firm and will then call the partner to try to focus them in on that firm, without revealing that nine other firms, approached without their authority, have also seen their details!

4 To those of us who play by the rules, such behaviour is a source of constant irritation. Like PPI callers, they persist because just enough people bite to make it worth their while and, if you are sat in your front room working a phone list, you only need to land one partner a year to make a tidy profit. We therefore encourage you, whether you are hiring or looking to hire, to exercise caution when engaging with recruiters. Be cynical, be careful, and if it doesn t feel right, don t engage. Headline Hires May September 2017 CORPORATE A couple of equity capital markets team moves feature in this report, with Pinsent Masons hiring Julian Stanier and Gareth Jones from Berwin Leighton Paisner, while Clive Hopewell and Adam Carling leave Charles Russell Speechlys for Bird & Bird. Simmons & Simmons have attracted US capital markets partner Chris Walton from Clifford Chance, together with M&A partner Mark Carroll who left Clifford Chance last year. In a further boost to Gibson Dunn s London office, Anna Howell is joining from Herbert Smith Freehills where she was head of energy.

5 FINANCE/RESTRUCTURING Maurice Allen has been making an impact since he joined DLA Piper, and the finance team has grown, with the addition of Phil Crump to lead the London leveraged finance team, and Doug Murning who leaves Kirkland & Ellis in Hong Kong and will split his time at DLA between London and Hong Kong. After 5 years of really impressive hires in London, Ropes & Gray are experiencing some growing pains, and there is a sense of a changing of the guard at the firm s City office. This report sees a number of partners leave the firm, including finance duo Mark Wesseldine and Fergus Wheeler, who move to King & Spalding. Vinson & Elkins have pulled off some impressive laterals in the last two years, and most recently added finance partner John Dawson from Clifford Chance to their ranks. Baker McKenzie have bolstered their finance practice with the hire of restructuring partner Geoff O Dea from Freshfields. FUNDS AND FINANCIAL SERVICES Latham & Watkins have made no secret of their desire to build the preeminent global financial regulation practice and, in perhaps the headline move of the summer, hired David Berman from Quinn Emanuel. Highly regarded funds partner Anand Damodaran has swapped Ropes & Gray for Kirkland & Ellis, as the Chicago giant seemingly launches a wholescale assault on the Boston-based firm. Damodaran is the sixth partner to leave Ropes for Kirkland across the globe in the past few weeks. Investment funds partner Jonathan Baird is moving from Freshfields to Hogan Lovells. REAL ESTATE Corporate real estate specialist Mark Rajbenbach is joining Taylor Wessing from Paul Hastings, in a boost to the firm s leading hotels practice. Led by Mark Mifsud, Fried Frank London continues to attract SJ Berwin alumni, with real estate partners Darren Rogers and Patrick Williams joining the US firm after a brief sojourn at Ashurst. LITIGATION/ARBITRATION BLP have added a couple of partners to their disputes team, with George Burn joining from Vinson & Elkins, and Richard Chalk, who retired from Freshfields in 2016, also joining. Jeffrey Sullivan, a leading partner in public international law, has swapped Allen & Overy for Gibson Dunn. Corporate crime remains a busy area of recruitment and, in yet another example of a partner moving from a specialist firm to a large firm, Herbert Smith Freehills have hired Brian Spiro from BCL Solicitors.

6 Pillsbury have appointed Deborah Ruff from Norton Rose Fulbright to lead their global international arbitration practice. Patent litigation remains an in-demand area and, in a coup for WilmerHale, Justin Watts is joining from Freshfields, with his senior associate Matthew Shade who arrives at Wilmer as a partner. Paul, Dan and the Team Deacon Search is an independent legal recruitment boutique focusing exclusively on partner moves in London. If you are a law firm interested in discussing a potential assignment or an individual partner or team considering a move, please contact us. Partner Consultants: Paul Dan Scott Norah Sarah Partner Research & Market Intelligence Danielle Gemma Agi

7 The individuals listed in the tables below are movers reported between 22 nd May and 19 th September They are all partners who moved to or from a London office, unless otherwise stated. 1. Corporate/Private Equity David Duncan Allen & Overy Baker McKenzie Corporate Energy Melanie Howard Clifford Chance Baker McKenzie Corporate Alex Lewis Ropes & Gray (Counsel) Baker McKenzie Private Equity Murdoch Currie Berwin Leighton Paisner Bates Wells Braithwaite Corporate Equity Capital Markets Clive Hopewell Charles Russell Speechlys Bird & Bird Equity Capital Markets Adam Carling Charles Russell Speechlys Bird & Bird Equity Capital Markets Robert Wieder Bryan Cave Faegre Baker Daniels Corporate Keith Woodhouse Hogan Lovells Fieldfisher Private Equity Tom Ferns Rosenblatt Haynes and Boone CDG Corporate Nick Foss-Pedersen Rosenblatt Haynes and Boone CDG Corporate Jonathan Polin Dentons Howard Kennedy Corporate Jeremy Davis K&L Gates McGuireWoods Corporate Julian Stanier Berwin Leighton Paisner Pinsent Masons Equity Capital Markets Gareth Jones Berwin Leighton Paisner Pinsent Masons Equity Capital Markets Mark Carroll Ex Clifford Chance Simmons & Simmons Corporate

8 Chris Walton Clifford Chance Simmons & Simmons US Capital Markets 2. Finance Matthew Smith Travers Smith (Senior Counsel) Baker McKenzie Finance Shanan Dunstan Ashurst (Counsel) Berwin Leighton Paisner Asset Based Lending Jason Chamberlain Freshfields (Counsel) Berwin Leighton Paisner Rail Finance Samrad Nazer Locke Lord Bird & Bird Finance Philip Crump Ex Gibson Dunn DLA Piper Finance Doug Murning Kirkland & Ellis (Hong Kong) DLA Piper (London & Hong Kong) Finance Chris Hastings Ropes & Gray (Associate) Eversheds Sutherland Finance Stephen Moller K&L Gates Fieldfisher Structured Finance Mark Wesseldine Ropes & Gray King & Spalding Finance Fergus Wheeler Ropes & Gray King & Spalding Finance Ronan Armstrong Addleshaw Goddard (Managing Associate) Mason Hayes & Curran Finance Lorraine Vaz King & Wood Mallesons McGuireWoods Finance Richard Hakes Allen & Overy Reed Smith Asset Finance Bill Gibson Dentons Vedder Price (London & Singapore) Aircraft Finance

9 John Dawson Clifford Chance Vinson & Elkins Finance Louise Mor White & Case Watson Farley & Williams Asset Finance 3. Insolvency/Restructuring Geoff O Dea Freshfields Baker McKenzie Restructuring Finance Ben Klinger Sidley Austin Brown Rudnick Restructuring Stephen Parker Paul Hastings Watson Farley & Williams Restructuring Banking Litigation 4. Financial Services/Funds Monica Gogna Ropes & Gray Dechert Financial Services Investment Funds Jonathan Garforth Allen & Overy Dentons Financial Services Jonathan Baird Freshfields Hogan Lovells Investment Funds Anand Damodaran Ropes & Gray Kirkland & Ellis Investment Funds David Berman Quinn Emanuel Latham & Watkins Financial Services Sean Donovan-Smith K&L Gates Locke Lord Investment Funds Jacqui Hatfield Reed Smith Orrick Financial Services FinTech Michael Lewis Pinsent Masons Osborne Clarke Financial Services

10 Leith Moghli Kirkland & Ellis Reed Smith Investment Funds 5. Real Estate/Planning Mark Shepherd Paul Hastings DWF Real Estate Darren Rogers Ashurst Fried Frank Real Estate Patrick Williams Ashurst Fried Frank Real Estate Jeremy Raj Wedlake Bell Irwin Mitchell Residential Real Estate Richard Semple Vinson & Elkins (Counsel) Kirkland & Ellis Real Estate Finance Ben Henry Bird & Bird Locke Lord Real Estate John Bosworth Ashfords Maples Teesdale Planning Martin Smith Hewitsons Maples Teesdale Real Estate Petar Orlic Faegre Baker Daniels Reed Smith Real Estate Elias Hayek Starwood Hotels Squire Patton Boggs Hotels Mark Rajbenbach Paul Hastings Taylor Wessing Corporate Real Estate Kenneth Maxwell CMS Veale Wasbrough Vizards Real Estate Finance 6. Projects/Energy Robert Turner Dentons Devonshires Infrastructure Julia Pyke Herbert Smith Freehills EDF Energy

11 Anna Howell Herbert Smith Freehills Gibson Dunn Energy Colin Graham Orrick Watson Farley & Williams Energy 7. Commercial Litigation/International Arbitration/Corporate Crime George Burn Vinson & Elkins Berwin Leighton Paisner International Arbitration Richard Chalk Ex Freshfields Berwin Leighton Paisner Commercial Litigation International Arbitration Matthew Wescott DAC Beachcroft Carter-Ruck Commercial Litigation Michelle Linderman Ince & Co Crowell & Moring International Trade Jeffrey Sullivan Allen & Overy Gibson Dunn International Arbitration Public International Law Paul Friedman Quinn Emanuel gunnercooke Commercial Litigation Brian Spiro BCL Solicitors Herbert Smith Freehills Corporate Crime Michelle Duncan Paul Hastings Joseph Hage Aaronson Commercial Litigation Banking Litigation Gareth Rees QC Financial Reporting Council King & Spalding Regulatory Investigations Marcus Thompson Ropes & Gray Kirkland & Ellis Corporate Crime Hanna Basha Hill Dickinson Payne Hicks Beach Defamation Dan Hyde Howard Kennedy Penningtons Manches White Collar Crime Cyber Security Nick Vamos Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Peters & Peters Crime

12 Deborah Ruff Norton Rose Fulbright Pillsbury International Arbitration Adrian Taylor Locke Lord Rosenblatt Commercial Litigation David Hughes Dechert Stewarts Law Banking Litigation 8. Insurance/Healthcare Tim Crockford Gowling WLG (Director) Clyde & Co Professional Negligence Victoria Kennedy BLM DAC Beachcroft Personal Injury Jonny Landau RadcliffesLeBrasseur DAC Beachcroft Healthcare Clare Swirski Ex Clifford Chance Debevoise (Consultant) Corporate Insurance Will Marshall Capsticks DWF Medical Negligence Antony Woodhouse Gowling WLG DWF Insurance Litigation David Murphy Sedgwick Elborne Mitchell Insurance Reinsurance Sharon Lamb Capsticks McDermott Will & Emery Healthcare Susie Wakefield Taylor Wessing Shoosmiths Insurance Litigation International Arbitration Jane Howard Gowling WLG Reed Smith Professional Negligence

13 9. Employment/Pensions Andrew Campbell Slaughter and May (Associate) Doyle Clayton Pensions Louise Skinner Allen & Overy (Counsel) Morgan Lewis Employment Tom Ince Reed Smith PwC Employment Noel Deans Bivonas Rosenblatt Employment Susan Thompson Magrath Simkins Employment Sarah Culshaw Collyer Bristow Teacher Stern (Consultant) Employment Blair Adams DMH Stallard Wedlake Bell Employment 10. IP/TMT/Data Protection/Commercial/Advertising Sue McLean Morrison & Foerster (Counsel) Baker McKenzie Technology Stuart Cairns Pinsent Masons Bird & Bird Procurement Udo Onwere Farrer & Co Bray & Krais Solicitors Sports Julian Ward Hamlins Lee & Thompson Digital Media Huw Morris Reed Smith Lee & Thompson Advertising Andrew Shindler King & Wood Mallesons Locke Lord Commercial Technology

14 Ashley Winton Paul Hastings McDermott Will & Emery Data Protection Ingrid Silver Dentons Reed Smith Jon Bartley Penningtons Manches RPC Media Entertainment Technology Data Protection Jim Dennis Gordon Dadds Simkins IP Litigation Justin Watts Freshfields WilmerHale Patent Litigation Matthew Shade Freshfields WilmerHale Patent Litigation Jon Baldwin Trowers & Hamlins (Associate) Winckworth Sherwood Procurement Toni Vitale Addleshaw Goddard (Legal Director) Winckworth Sherwood Data Protection 11. Competition Alex Haffner Dentons (Managing Associate) Fladgate EU Competition 12. Private Client/Family Emily Brand Winckworth Sherwood Boodle Hatfield Family Rachel Mainwaring- Taylor Hunters Solicitors Farrer & Co Private Client Filippo Noseda Withers Mishcon de Reya Private Client

15 Dhana Sabanathan McDermott Will & Emery Winckworth Sherwood Private Client 13. Tax Alex Tostevin Weil Dentons Tax Cristiano Bortolotti Transfer Pricing Global Solutions Dentons (non-legal partner) Transfer Pricing Ben Brown Allen & Overy (Counsel) DLA Piper Tax Sarah Cardew Teacher Stern Irwin Mitchell Tax Graham Samuel-Gibbon EY (Director) Taylor Wessing Tax Sam Rippon Bristows Teacher Stern Tax Mergers/Office Openings Bond Dickinson is formally merging with its US alliance partner, Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice. The new firm will be known as Womble Bond Dickinson. Maclay Murray & Spens is set to become part of Dentons later this year. Dentons UKMEA base will be increased by 258 lawyers, bringing the firm s global headcount to 8,695 lawyers. Kennedys and US insurance firm Carroll McNulty & Kull (CMK) have completed their merger, creating a firm of over 1000 lawyers across the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East.