European moves: 7 March 2013

Baltics

Swedish firm Magnusson has completed its coverage of the Baltic region with the launch of an office in Lithuania, bringing on board local firm Nordia Baublys (4 March 2013). The firm has picked up a four-partner, 20-strong team from Nordia Baublys with offices in the country’s capital Vilnius as well as its second-largest city Kaunas. Nordia Baublys managing partner Ligita Ramanauskaitė becomes the managing partner of Magnusson in Lithuania.

Benelux

De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek partner Lokke Moerel has been appointed as professor of global ICT law at Tilburg University, as of 1 March. Moerel wants to build a bridge between theory and practice, and use research to improve legal solutions for cross-border ICT issues faced by these organisations.

France

Linklaters is set to lose three partners, a consultant and an associate from its Paris capital markets team to US firm White & Case (28 February 2013). The team comprises debt capital market (DCM) partners Cenzi Gargaro, Philippe Herbelin and Séverin Robillard, consultant Gilles Endréo and associate Thomas Le Vert, who also joins White & Case’s Paris DCM team as a partner. Endréo was a partner at the magic circle firm until recently and also becomes a partner at the US firm alongside the rest of the quintet.

McDermott Will & Emery has hired a three-partner team from the Paris office of Canadian firm Fasken Martineau in a bid to strengthen its African energy expertise (4 March 2013). Fasken partners Jean-Claude Petilon, Liliane Doukouré and Matthieu Adam all join McDermott’s energy advisory practice group. Petilon is joining as senior counsel while Doukouré and Adam will be counsel at their new firm.

French independent LMBE Avocats has appointed Fasken partner Sylvain Beaumont as a partner in its economic law team (5 March 2013). Beaumont joins LMBE after two and a half years as a partner at Fasken. He joined the firm in September 2010 from Gide Loyrette Nouel, where he was an associate.

Meanwhile Fasken has hired a duo of lawyers from Nixon Peabody’s Paris office in a bid to strengthen its employment team (6 March 2013). Nixon Peabody partner Ludovic Roche has joined Fasken as a partner along with associate Claire Lintingre, who will work in both the Paris and London offices. Roche moved to Nixon Peabody from SNR Denton two years ago.

Sullivan & Cromwell Paris corporate star Dominique Bompoint has left the US firm to set up his own practice in a bid to get closer to clients on both advisory and contentious work (27 February 2013). Bompoint set up Cabinet Bompoint, together with three associates from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Linklaters and Sullivan & Cromwell, on Monday 25 February. The firm will provide transactional and litigation advice to the same sort of clients who instructed him at his previous firm, such as investment and industrial group Bolloré, electricity giant EDF, and investment banks Crédit Agricole and Natixis.

Weil Gotshal & Manges Paris partner Laurent Faugérolas has left both legal practice and France to set up a corporate advisory boutique in London specialising in the oil and gas sector (25 February 2013). Faugérolas, acknowledged as one of the Paris market’s corporate stars, joined Weil Gotshal from Willkie Farr & Gallagher in 2011. He left the firm in December to set up an M&A advisory boutique, LF Advising, acting for French and other clients on transactions with a particular focus on the energy sector.

French corporate boutique Redlink has picked up two partners from Nixon Peabody’s dissolving Paris office, bringing the number of partners at the firm to eight (25 February 2013). Corporate partner Emmanuelle Porte and tax partner Jean-Sébastien Dumont are joining Redlink along with corporate of counsel Sylvie Hamel.

Germany

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton corporate partner Jürgen Sieger is moving to DLA Piper, taking up the role of German corporate head in a significant boost for the firm (4 March 2013). Sieger will begin work at DLA Piper’s Cologne office on 1 July. Cleary lawyer Jan Eltzschig is also moving to DLA Piper, and will begin work as a counsel in April.

Graf von Westphalen has added to its Shanghai team with the hire of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer lawyer Alexandra Hansmeyer. Hansmeyer practised corporate law at Freshfields in Berlin and London for over eight years and spent a year on secondment to an investment bank in London.

Luther has hired corporate litigator Eike Dirk Eschenfelder as a partner in its Frankfurt office. Eschenfelder joins Luther from GSK Stockmann & Kollegen, where he was an equity partner.

Iberia

Baker & McKenzie has hired State Counsel Pablo Dorronsoro as partner in charge of its public law department in Madrid. Until recently, Dorronsoro was a partner at CMS Albiñana & Suarez de Lezo. Dorronsoro is an expert in administrative disputes and advice to companies in the energy, telecommunications and infrastructure sectors, as well as other industries regulated by public law.

Ireland

Dillon Eustace is relocating partner Derbhil O’Riordan to its recently-established Cayman Islands office. O’Riordan is a member of the firm’s hedge funds practice and was promoted to partner in 2010.

Italy

Baker & McKenzie has hired Michele Santocchini as a counsel in its Rome tax team. Santocchini joins Baker & McKenzie from Deloitte, where he was a partner. He advises multinational and Italian companies with respect to cross-border transactions, international and local tax planning and tax litigation. Meanwhile the firm has also relocated partner Marco Marazzi from Shanghai to Milan to advise Chinese investors interested in the Italian and European markets, and to assist Italians investing in the Chinese market.

Switzerland

Withers has appointed a partner from offshore firm Appleby to set up a pan-European investment funds practice (21 February 2013). Matthew Feargrieve joins Withers’ Zurich office after three years in the offshore firm’s Swiss base. He joined Appleby from Mourant Ozannes legacy firm Mourant du Feu & Jeune in 2010.