Gibson Dunn boosts capital markets with A&O hire

Los Angeles-based firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher has beefed up its London capital markets offering with the hire of Dorothee Fischer-Appelt from Allen & Overy.

Fischer-Appelt joins as a partner in the corporate transactions practice group. A dual English/US qualified specialist in capital markets and M&A, she joins from A&O’s London office, where she was an associate.

Kevin Kelley, co-head of the firm’s capital markets practice, said: “She has combined her US corporate and capital markets skills with her German-speaking background to develop a market-leading position on transactions recently out of Austria, Switzerland and Germany.”

Fischer-Appelt most notably led A&O’s team on Erste Bank’s Eu2.9bn rights issue, the largest-ever offering on the Vienna Stock Exchange earlier this year.

Gibson Dunn has made a swathe of notable hires in recent weeks, including Jones Day’s joint head of global lending and structured finance Robert Cunningham.

In Los Angeles, the firm has also hired former deputy mayor Maurice Suh and Debra Wong Yang from the Department of Justice’s corporate fraud task force.