DLA Piper boosts tax and hedge fund expertise

DLA Piper has boosted its corporate practice with the additions of tax partner Richard Woolich and associate David Williams, who specialises in hedge fund formation.

Woolich, who has experience of real estate-related tax work as well as VAT, joined from K&L Gates, where he was a partner.

Williams has joined from the Cayman Islands office of Maples & Calder, where he was an associate. Prior to joining Maples, Williams worked at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

While Williams brings hedge fund formation expertise to DLA Piper, the firm will not be making a particular push in that area. In the past its hedge fund work has been on the transactional side and, while it will seek to undertake fund formation work in the future, it will be concentrating on its core strengths of private equity, M&A and capital markets for the time being.

David Raff, head of the firm's UK corporate group, said: "Funds formation will grow because a lot of people are investing via funds. We want to make sure we have all the platforms within that."