Brown & Wood hires Bryan Cave partner for fund work

New York firm Brown & Wood has hired Bryan Cave partner Bill Morrison as part of a move to expand its London international financial services practice.

Browns, which specialises in capital markets work, is soon to move into new 2000sqft City premises, and is in the process of developing its multinational practice. It is recruiting English and US lawyers for the office.

Morrison, who joined it last week, described his move from Bryan Cave's London office as "extremely amicable" but said that funds work, his speciality, was "not central" to his old

firm's practice.

He said there is a "tremendous growth" in fund work and he had opted to join Brown & Wood as it was "very targeted and not just another US firm doing project finance."

He added that since many investors to English funds were from the US, firms had to have a dual capacity.

In London , Brown & Wood has two US partners and four US associates specialising in capital markets work as well as one English partner and four English associates.

It plans to develop its London office to around 30 lawyers who will work in tandem with its Hong Kong office where the plan is to have around 20 lawyers. Brown & Wood has 300 lawyers.

A spokesman from Bryan Cave said the firm was very sorry to see Morrison go.