Allen and Goetz to launch UK base for Boston's Ropes & Gray
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Ropes & Gray has hired finance partners Maurice Allen and Mike Goetz to spearhead its London office launch.
Maurice Allen
Allen and Goetz had been linked to a number of firms, including Greenberg Traurig Maher, since their August departure from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where they had been for just over a year (3 August 2009).
The pair will build a City finance practice for the Boston-headquartered firm, which has been looking at a London launch for the past decade.
Ropes private equity partner David Chapin said: “We’ve been exploring the idea of a London office for ten years, but haven’t found the right opportunity until now.
“In the past we haven’t been able to advise on deals for our longstanding clients because we haven’t had the right international capabilities.”
The firm’s traditional expertise are in private equity, investment management and finance and it counts private equity houses TPG and Bain Capital among its longstanding clients.
Allen and Goetz will capitalise on Ropes’s longstanding relationships by advising the firm’s private equity clients on their debt positions.
Allen said: “This and our relationships with underwriters creates a real opportunity for us.”
Allen added that Ropes aims to build a high-yield practice in London to take advantage of the resurgent European high-yield bond market.
London will be the US firm’s third office outside the US. The firm, which has offices in Boston, New York, Washington DC, Chicago and San Francisco, also has bases in Tokyo and Hong Kong.
For Allen and Goetz, who joined Freshfields from White & Case, the move to Ropes is an opportunity build a practice from scratch. At White & Case they were instrumental in building a London banking and finance practice that consolidated the US firm’s relationship with key financial institution client Deutsche Bank.
Ropes corporate partner Newcomb Stillwell said: “They have a lot of experience with start-ups and this is what attracted us to them.
Mike Goetz
“We’ve put together a five-year plan for London, but we’re realistic and realise that we’ll need to be flexible about how we develop.
“If they say we need to head in a certain direction we’ll certainly respond to that.”
Ropes does not have a formal network of international referral firms, but has developed strong ties with several UK firms including Ashurst, Herbert Smith, Macfarlanes and SJ Berwin.
Stillwell said: “We hope to continue to work with these. We have a real focus with our new venture. There’ll continue to be many opportunities for us to work with those firms we have close ties with.”
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Readers' comments (13)
Anonymous | 22-Oct-2009 4:13 pm
Yet another Yankee firm comes to London and throws money around. They better have deep pockets.
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mary | 22-Oct-2009 4:44 pm
Wow. Wonder what Paul Maher makes of this? They be in the market for the same lawyers to build their teams won't they? Maybe they can start a new salary war....
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Cuppy | 22-Oct-2009 5:03 pm
Money for old rope I reckon
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Anonymous | 22-Oct-2009 5:05 pm
Who are these people?
Why do they look all jolly and relaxed on the other page but like they should be worried about going to prison on this one? Does it show the difference between them leaving the old firm and joining the new one???
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Anonymous | 23-Oct-2009 8:58 am
I think this has potential. If Mike and Maurice want to they could make it work. If they focus their minds on hiring a bunch of good service partners. They couldn't do this at Freshfields and so it flopped. It's much easier to do this in the context of a US firm.
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Anonymous | 23-Oct-2009 10:19 am
It really depends on how much freedom they have to recruit and develop the office. It's not a given that they will be able to hire who they want and develop the practice how they see fit. Yes, they're good at start-ups but success really depends on a lot of different factors about the management of Ropes & Gray.
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Rob | 23-Oct-2009 12:58 pm
It's hard to read the tea leaves here. R&G is a very Boston Brahmin type of firm, quite conservative in its growth thus far (it's 2009 and they aren't on the West coast, they barely made it to Chicago).
R&G has good client relationships with private equity types like Bain and if partners in Boston do a good job referring work to the likes of Allen and Goetz, then methinks I see more potential here for success than Paul Maher's new operation since Greenberg doesn't necessarily have the deep historic relationships that Ropes has.
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HGR | 23-Oct-2009 1:13 pm
is it true there's a legal associate in London without expertise in law firm management?
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Bob | 23-Oct-2009 2:55 pm
How long will these two remain at their new home? Given their past record probably not that long.
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Anonymous | 23-Oct-2009 3:57 pm
Rob with respect (really no offence intended), me thinks your legal knowledge may benefit from having a quick glance at a list of Greenberg’s clients. You'll certainly be left in no position but to withdraw your previous comment.
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