Halliwells boosts London office with corporate duo

Halliwell Landau has doubled the size of its London corporate department with the hire of two new partners.
The firm has recruited Richards Butler partner Matthew Puhar and Berwin Leighton Paisner partner Ian Brent.

M&A specialist Puhar worked in Richards Butler’s Hong Kong office for five years, joins now from the firm’s City office. He has previously advised Hilton Group and MTV Networks Europe.

Brent is a mainstream corporate partner who has worked extensively for Experian, but also acted for Aon, Avanti Capital and Esporta.

Halliwells now has four corporate partners and 14 partners in total in its London office.

The hires follow a restructuring of Halliwells’ equity at the end of last year. The firm has transformed its salaried partners into junior fixed-share equity partners, giving them a small profit share and added voting rights.

The firm has also undergone a change of management, with managing partner Paul Thomas being replaced by litigation partner Ian Austin.