Kobre & Kim’s QC hire bestows English nous

Corbett’s hire gives the firm, which opened in ­London last summer, ­an English law capability for the first time. He will work alongside US-qualified partner Michael Kim, who divides his time between London and New York, and partner Robert Henoch. The firm plans to have a total of five ­English-­qualified lawyers working in the City by the autum.

Corbett, who took silk in 1999, said of his move:
“I’d been at the bar a long time. Not only had I done pretty much everything I wanted to, but most of it I’d done twice. Twice is enough.”

Corbett, whose international arbitration practice sees him ply his trade in the Far East, the Caribbean and Latin ­America, will spend some of his time in the firm’s Hong Kong office, which launches later this year.

Corbett has joined the firm as a partner. Under changes to the Bar Council’s Code of Conduct he will not have to qualify as a solicitor, unlike the former attorney general Lord Goldsmith QC, who became a solicitor in 2008 in order to join the equity ­partnership at Debevoise & Plimpton.