Howrey's Brussels woes continue as partner defects to MoFo

McQuail joins MoFo as a partner in the firm’s antitrust and competition team. His departure follows the recent announcement that Shearman & Sterling has picked up a five-partner team from Howrey in Brussels (23 February 2011).

Howrey has lost a large number of partners across its offices during the first two months of this year.

Winston & Strawn is understood to have made offers to a proportion of the remaining Howrey partners and believes a Brussels office would complement its existing competition practice (28 February 2011).

McQuail previously worked in both Howrey’s Brussels and London offices.

He told The Lawyer a mutual Japanese client had put him in touch with MoFo and he had been talking to the firm for over a year. McQuail added that the small size of MoFo’s Brussels office was an attraction. “It’s always attractive to join a firm where there’s scope to develop,” he said.

MoFo’s global competition head Stephen Smith said McQuail’s hire “adds depth to our practice in Brussels, complements our existing cartel expertise, and will strengthen our merger control practice, an important area of growth for the firm”.