BLP hires Teacher Stern sports litigator Shear

Shear (pictured) has been a prominent figure at Teacher Stern, securing a number of high profile sport and TV celebrity clients for the UK firm.

Last month The Lawyer reported that Shear advised football agent Kia Joorabchian on Carlos Tevez’s transfer to Manchester City FC (27 July 2009). 

The deal came after the issue of third-party ownership of sportspeople in the UK has been battled out in the courts.

Shear has also been at the centre of the News International phone hacking scandal. Shear assembled a team including Hugh Tomlinson QC of Matrix Chambers and David Sherborne of 5 Raymond Buildings to deal with inquiries from those affected by allegations that News of the World journalists were hacking into celebrities’ phone lines.

Shear is one of a number of lateral hires to join BLP in recent months.

In July The Lawyer reported that the firm hired Clifford Chance litigator Nicholas Fletcher as head of its international arbitration group (1 July 2009).

In June the firm hired Allen & Overy leveraged finance partner Andrew Bamber into its banking and capital markets department (26 June 2009).

Earlier in the year the firm hired former Kirkland & Ellis private equity partner Raymond McKeeve to head its private equity practice. McKeeve returned to private practice after a year-long spell with client Robert Tchenguiz at his R20 investment vehicle (30 March 2009).