CC London litigation chief relocates to Moscow, finance co-head to Saudi
Clifford Chance has moved to strengthen two of its key jurisdictions with the relocation of senior partners to offices in the Middle East and Russia.
Nick Munday
The move, which will see co-head of the firm’s London finance and capital markets practice Tim Plews team up with Saudi associate firm Al Jadaan & Partners and London litigation chief Nick Munday relocate to Moscow, is part of a new strategy to use big hitters in developing markets.
Munday, who has been working in Moscow since January, said his move was intended to take advantage of the surge in cross border litigation work coming out of the jurisdiction.
“There is a phenomenon that Moscow is the new epicentre for London litigation,” he said. “It’s a truly global market now and if people choose the UK as a place to do litigation then we want to have a presence where the clients are.
“We’re undoubtedly leading the way on this by putting a top team here [in Moscow] to do London litigation work.”
The cross border team for the magic circle firm currently comprises two partners in London and a further three, including Munday, in Moscow. Munday confirmed that the firm was looking to grow the team.
Tim Plews
Plews, who will relocate to Saudi Arabia in October this year, will join projects partner Mohamed Hamra-Krouha, who has been seconded to Al Jadaan since 2008. Plews, who has worked with clients in the region for 15 years, will take partner headcount in the Saudi office to seven.
Speaking of his and Munday’s moves Plews commented: “It reflects the firm’s commitment to making strategic investments in what are still emerging markets.
“I hope we’ll see more of it generally. This sort of move re-iterates that there’s increasing potential across the firm for people who want to relocate. One of my missions is to try to encourage people to join me.”
Cliifford Chance’s Dubai-based regional managing partner Graham Lovett added: “Tim’s permanent presence in the region will be a big boost for us across the entire breadth of our transactional practice - having someone of his seniority and experience on the ground in Riyadh is an unprecedented move amongst international firms.”
Elsewhere, energy partner Geraint Hughes will take over as the magic circle firm’s Singapore managing partner. He replaces Phillip Rapp, who will remain head of corporate in South East Asia.
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Readers' comments (37)
Cutting Edge | 15-Apr-2010 2:42 pm
What a development for the Kingdom.
I guess this is a sign that CC are taking control of the finance practice in Saudi to try and stop the constant loss of lawyers from Al Jadaan.
Interesting to see if a corporate partner will follow.
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Anonymous | 17-Apr-2010 3:35 pm
The only way CC will be able to stop the constant loss of lawyers from Al Jadaan is to loose, or at least control, Al-Jadaan himself. It remains to be seen just how long Mr Plews will be able to stick it in Saudi.
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Once Bitten | 20-Apr-2010 1:47 pm
Where to start - the whole Al Jadaan saga would fill three volumes.
Cutting Edge clearly doesn't know Mohammed Al Jadaan. No way will he let CC get any influence in the practice in Saudi Arabia. Like Anonymous, I'd give Tim Plews 6 months before he goes home in total frustration.
As for a corporate partner, everyone knows that the last 3 expat managers on the corporate side didn't manage two years between them. Who'd volunteer for that gig?
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Cutting Edge | 21-Apr-2010 10:43 am
I heard the entire corporate team below partner level changed last year except for one expat. Retention in the finance team isn't much better.
There is a huge disconnect between partners and associates throughout the practice.
Not that clear what Mr Plews is supposed to do about this.
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Envy | 21-Apr-2010 6:38 pm
Al Jadaan must be doing something right because they have won every award going in the last few years and are head and shoulders above the rest. The above comments are petty (no mention of a CC finance partner who to my knowledge has already "stuck it" in Riyadh for 3 years) - but a predictable reaction from people who seem to be playing in Al Jadaan's shadow. Plews deserves to succeed.
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Once Bitten | 23-Apr-2010 10:40 am
Hey Envy. A man of your obvious intelligence should be able to see that all of the above comments refer to associate retention not partner retention. You are right. Not a single partner has left Al Jadaan. More's the pity.
But lets not forget the headcount below partner. How many associates over the last 3 years or so? Give us the figures please. Tell me while you are at it how many associates over the last three years have made senior associate?
No-one is denying that Al Jadaan wins awards. But what has that to do with the tunnel-vision leadership, hyper-critical environment and lack of Associate development.
Plews may well deserve to succeed and no-one wishes him ill. But the question is whether he will be allowed to succeed. Maybe you have the answer to that too.
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Once Bitten | 25-Apr-2010 8:39 am
While we wait for Envy to take instructions, we can ponder another fact.
Al Jadaan was formed in 1996 and between then and now not a single associate has made senior associate.
Is there any other law firm in the world which claims to be No. 1 in its jurisdiction ("head and shoulders above the rest" says Envy) and which can boast of such an achievement?
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Seven Sins | 26-Apr-2010 11:33 am
Hey Envy,
I can tell how many associate have left the firm within the last three years. There were more that 16 associates left the firm out of 19 lawyers!
No one of those lawyers stayed at the firm more than 18 months in total. In fact, some of them run away from the first 6 months.
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Ben | 26-Apr-2010 1:28 pm
On unrelated matters, what do guys think will happen in the upcoming months in terms of Latham vs. W&C?
In your opinion, will L&W succeed in taking over most of W&C's recent business? (I'd say yes, except for Aramco, which will continued to be managed by W&C from outside Saudi Arabia.)
Will W&C rise from the ashes and get back to being a great firm in Saudi? (I'd say yes as well.)
How will they achieve that? (I'd say from partners and associates relocation and lateral hires from some of the good int'l firms established in Saudi),
Cheers
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Cutting Edge | 27-Apr-2010 8:55 am
Ben. There is a separate thread on White & Case in Riyadh elsewhere on this website. I would suggest that you post your questions there rather than deflect attention away from this extremely enjoyable discussion about Al Jadaan.
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