Brown Rudnick raids Speechly Bircham for London boost

Boston-based law firm Brown Rudnick has strengthened its London presence with the appointment of three private equity and venture capital specialists.

Kieran O’Connor, Matthew Sillett and Adrian Yeandle join Brown Rudnick’s London-based corporate team, reuniting after having previously worked together at Osborne Clarke in the late 1990s.

O’Connor and Sillett join as partners from Speechly Bircham where they led the private equity group.

Yeandle joins as a senior associate from Osborne Clarke’s London office where he was a member of the corporate team. He was also the Osborne Clarke’s country manager for France and responsible for the firm’s relationship with associate office Stehlin & Associates.

The appointments bolster the 200-lawyer firm’s London office, which was launched in 1997, to 11 lawyers.

The hires come hot on the heels of that of US partner A. Grant McCrea, who joins from Dewey Ballantine to be chair of the firm’s newly formed international litigation and arbitration practice.

McRea will be based in Brown Rudnick's New York office, where he will specialise in litigation involving derivative financial products.