Herbies woos Russian banking star

Herbert Smith has bolstered its growing Moscow practice with the hire of a senior in-house lawyer from Renaissance ­Capital, one of Russia’s largest investment banks.

Evgeny ­Zelensky, a ­former Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton lawyer, was co-head of legal and compliance at Renaissance from October 2004 until June this year. He will join the capital markets group at Herbert Smith under Moscow head Allen Hanen.

Hanen said: “Evgeny is one of only a handful of Russian equity capital markets ­specialists with deep ­experience in this market.”

The firm’s Moscow practice has seen fee income double in the past year and counts Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and Alfa Bank among its clients.