Headline Partner Moves Jan-Feb 2017

It’s time to take a look at the lateral partner recruitment moves in London so far this year, including a rare Slaughters partner hire…

Partners

Name	To	From	Practice Area	Notes
Dan Schaffer 17 Feb 2017	Slaughter and May	Herbert Smith Freehills	Pensions and Employment	Schaffer has nearly 20 years’ experience advising at partner level on all aspects of pensions law, with a particular focus on strategic advisory and transactional work. He also has significant expertise in advising on pensions disputes, having been involved in several landmark pensions cases. He is a former chairman of the Association of Pension Lawyers’ International Committee. Prior to Herbert Smith Freehills, he spent 12 years as a partner at Freshfields.
Carl Allen Feb 2017	Eversheds Sutherland	Pinsent Masons	Finance and Restructuring	Carl specialises in financial restructuring and business recovery and has extensive experience advising banks, corporate stakeholders, directors, creditors, debtors and insolvency practitioners in relation to finance and security arrangements, mitigating insolvency risk and dealing with insolvency situations – including accelerated sales processes. Allen also advises on debt finance matters, debt trades, risk participations and security arrangements on a syndicated, multi-bank or bilateral basis and advises corporate entities and banks on establishing or closing-out derivatives and hedging transactions.
David Parkes Feb 2017	Simmons & Simmons	King & Wood Mallesons	Corporate	David’s practice is focused on domestic and international M&A, including extensive experience in Africa. Parkes specialises in public and private acquisitions / disposals, joint ventures, private fund raisings, re-organisations and strategic advisory, as well as capital markets and private equity.
Jonathan Mellor Jan 2017	Simmons & Simmons	Allen & Overy	Capital Markets	Prior to joining Simmons & Simmons, Jonathan had a long career at Allen & Overy, where over the course of 30 years he advised a wide range of underwriters and issuers on all types of capital markets issuance (with a principal focus on complex debt capital markets transactions). In recent years he has had a particular focus on the equity-linked market, building up a significant practice advising a range of issuers and financial institutions.
Simon Ovenden Will join in May 2017	Simmons & Simmons	Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP	Capital Markets	Ovenden has extensive experience representing corporate and sovereign issuers, as well as financial institutions, in issuances of debt and equity securities across a wide range of debt and equity capital markets transactions in jurisdictions ranging from the US to Nigeria and Pakistan.
Helen Hagan Feb 2017	Simmons & Simmons	Herbert Smith Freehills	Real Estate Finance	Helen advises borrowers and lenders on a broad range of lending transactions and debt restructurings with a particular focus on the real estate sector. Her experience includes working in Hong Kong, Amsterdam and Moscow as well as in London.
Nigel Adams, John Goodman, David Knapp, Danielle Singer, Michelle Traxler and Tom Walshaw	DAC Beachcroft	Clyde & Co	Claims Solutions	Team consisting of six partners and 21 legal professionals.
Neil Trayhurn and Dragos Stoica Feb 2017	Hill Dickinson	Triton Global Limited	Insurance	Trayhurn joins as Head of insurance (London) bringing more than 20 years’ experience to the role. Formerly head of legal at Triton Global, he has also held several senior management positions at Bond Pearce including head of dispute resolution and was founding partner of the firm’s London office. Stoica joins the firm as partner having held the position of commercial director and solicitor at Triton Global for ten years where he was primarily focused on developing new business opportunities. Stoica has also spent a number of years in the insurance industry as a claims adjuster.
Jessica Kohler March 2017	Hill Dickinson	Capsticks	Commercial / Health	A recognised expert in procurement law, Jessica has acted for both NHS bodies and GPs in relation to delivering greater efficiency in service delivery and service integration and alliance/partnership working linked to clients’ innovative plans for devolution, STPs, accountable care systems, new NHS models of care and primary care led out of hospital care services. She also has significant experience advising on major complex healthcare transactions and public / private joint ventures, mergers, IT services procurements, and shared services across the public and private sector.
Jo Rickards Feb 2017	Mishcon de Reya	Kingsley Napley	Business Crime	Jo has also worked as a partner at DLA Piper and at Peters & Peters where she qualified. She is a specialist in white collar crime and represents individuals and corporate clients on corruption, fraud and money laundering matters, including those being investigated by the SFO, FCA, Competition and Markets Authority and HM Revenue and Customs. She has been involved in all the major SFO investigations since the Office was created. She has extensive experience of advising clients through internal investigations involving LIBOR and FX transactions.
Josh Wong Feb 2017	Signature Litigation	DLA Piper	Dispute Resolution and Litigation	Wong was previously a partner at DLA Piper and prior to this, he was a senior associate at Herbert Smith Freehills. He acts for a broad range of clients, focusing particularly on Chinese-based organisations, utilising his in-depth knowledge and experience of practising in both China and Hong Kong to advise Chinese companies on their disputes in Europe as well as European companies conducting business in China. He has expertise representing clients in ad hoc arbitrations and arbitrations under the ICC, LCIA, SCC and UNCITRAL rules and also specialises in security, asset tracing and enforcement actions involving Russia, Ukraine, India, China and offshore jurisdictions such as BVI, Cayman and Belize. Wong is native Chinese , speaks fluent Cantonese and good Mandarin, and is a regular speaker on issues relating to China at events organised by the China Britain Council, UK Trade and Investment and China Britain Law Institute
Jennifer Kafcas Feb 2017	McGuireWoods LLP	O’Melveny & Myers	Debt finance and Derivatives	Kafcas has 17 years’ experience of advising lenders and borrowers in complex structured and cross-border transactions in Europe and the US. She has particular knowledge of the bond, leverage finance and derivatives markets and documentation across many industry sectors. She has represented major investment banks in their capacity as lender and hedge counterparty and private equity funds in respect of leveraged finance, asset-based financings, and bond transactions
Wendy Miles QC March 2017	Debevoise & Plimpton LLP	Boies, Schiller & Flexner	Dispute Resolution	Wendy will be a member of the firm’s global international dispute resolution group. She has 20 years’ experience and has conducted arbitrations under all the major institutions, as well as ad hoc arbitrations and significant public international law matters. Miles is a vice president of the ICC Court of Arbitration. She is admitted to practice in England & Wales, and New Zealand.
Rob Bratby Feb 2017	Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP	Olswang	Telecommunications, Internet and Media	Bratby focuses his practice on corporate and regulatory work in telecoms, media and technology across Europe and Asia. He advises clients on mergers, acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures, and equity and debt investments, and has experience structuring foreign investments into emerging markets. His commercial practice spans IT and BPO outsourcing transactions, digital and mobile money arrangements, e-commerce and m-commerce, and more. Prior to joining Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, Bratby spent a number of years in private practice, where he was head of an international law firm’s commercial group and head of its telecoms sector. He also spent five years as in-house counsel at COLT Telecom and worked for the UK telecoms regulator OFTEL.
Ian Wood Feb 2017	Squire Patton Boggs	King & Wood Mallesons	Energy & Natural Resources	Ian has a particular focus in nuclear energy, nuclear waste management and nuclear decommissioning. He also has experience in power and renewable energy and the low carbon energy sector, advising on regulated procurement, commercial contracts and construction issues. In addition, he advises on major infrastructure projects in the transportation and energy sectors. He was called to the Bar in 1990 and practised as a barrister for ten years before becoming in-house counsel to British Nuclear Fuels plc, where he spent six years. He returned to private practice as a partner in an international law firm in 2006.
Clarissa Coleman March 2017	K&L Gates	Addleshaw Goddard	Litigation and Arbitration	Clarissa regularly acts on multi-million pound corporate litigation cases including claims relating to private equity structures, fee agreements, introducer agreements, failed joint ventures, warranty claims and breach of contract. Clarissa has a lot of experience acting for high-net-worth individuals and at the end of 2015, she successfully defended one of the highest 1975 Act claims to reach the courts.
Jason Yardley Feb 2017	Jenner & Block	White & Case	Litigation and Arbitration	Jason has 20 years’ international litigation and arbitration experience. He has represented clients in a broad range of matters involving banking, finance, mining, energy, technology, media and telecommunications issues. He has represented clients before all divisions of the English High Court, the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court and the Privy Council. Before joining the firm, Yardley practised for almost 17 years at White & Case in London, becoming a partner in 2004. His practice has encompassed claims relating to joint ventures and shareholder disputes, derivatives, fraud, contentious insolvency and breaches of contract, trust and fiduciary duties, for clients including banks, funds, companies in the oil, gas, energy and telecoms sectors, amongst others, and sovereign states.
Emma Russell Jan 2017	Haynes and Boone CDG	Carey Olsen	Finance	Emma acts for lenders, borrowers and sponsors on a wide range of domestic and international financing transactions, specifically in the real estate finance and funds finance sectors. She has considerable experience advising lenders and funds on a range of financing products across all fund sectors, including private equity, real estate funds and funds of funds
Zoë Connor Feb 2017	Haynes and Boone CDG	Ashurst	Finance	Zoë joins the firm from Ashurst, where she advised a variety of lenders, borrowers, sponsors and financial institutions across a range of cross-border and domestic financing transactions, with a particular focus on the financing of investment funds and financial institutions. She has extensive experience in handling fund finance transactions across all fund sectors and has acted as lead counsel on many of the market’s largest fund finance facilities to top-tier global funds.
Andreas Silcher Feb 2017	Haynes and Boone CDG	General Counsel at Cardiff LNG (UK) Ltd.	Maritime and offshore energy	Andreas represents clients in transactional matters in the maritime and offshore energy sectors. He has worked for more than a decade in the maritime, oil and gas, and finance sectors on a wide range of commercial transactions, from negotiating shipbuilding contracts to structuring complex multi-national joint ventures. He is fluent in Greek, German and Spanish.
Ian Gatt QC Feb 2017	Stewarts Law	Herbert Smith Freehills	Commercial disputes	Ian will support the firm’s commercial litigation, competition litigation, international arbitration and employment departments. He was called to the Bar in 1985 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2002. He is an accredited mediator.
Gordon Bell Feb 2017	Gowling WLG	Reed Smith	International Arbitration	Gordon’s sector experience includes construction, energy, oil & gas, shipbuilding, and defence projects. He will join the firm’s contentious construction team.
Ross Baker Feb 2017	BLM	Bond Dickinson	Professional indemnity	Ross specialises in professional indemnity and directors’ and officers’ insurance. He has over 16 years’ experience in the London insurance market, including a secondment in the financial lines team of a US insurer.
Myles Levy Jan 2017	Joelson	Howard Kennedy	Construction	Myles is a member of the Society of Construction Law and has more than 15 years’ experience advising on all legal aspects of construction projects. He has extensive experience in the residential, commercial and retail sectors, and also acts on all construction aspects in relation to development finance. His dispute resolution work includes cases involving defective works, payment issues, traditional construction time and money disputes, and health and safety compliance matters. He also advises on cases involving construction insolvency and insurance matters.
Mary-Ann Wright Feb 2017	Gunnercooke	DWF	Family law	Mary-Ann advises on complex and often high profile family law matters, often with an international element. She is the immediate past chair of the Women Lawyers Division of England & Wales. Wright will be joined by senior associate Raj Bhattoa and a group of in-house family counsel and paralegals.