Linklaters raids White & Case for 16-lawyer litigation team

Linklaters’ has found itself a new head of litigation in New York, poaching him, three more litigation partners and 12 associates from the Manhattan office of White & Case in an audacious raid that bolsters the magic circle’s litigation capability in New York.

Larry Byrne will take over as regional head of litigation in a post vacated by the US managing partner, Paul Wickes.

Wickes has combined private practice with his management position since 2004 but will now predominantly concentrate on leading the firm’s American offering.

Wickes himself was the product of a similar raid, on the New York office of Shearman & Sterling in 2003. He arrived with two other litigation partners and a senior associate, whom Linklaters made a partner on arrival.

In addition to Byrne, Joe Armao, Lance Croffoot-Suede and Paul Alfieri are joining from White & Case as litigation partners.

Byrne is an expert in white-collar crime with clients at White & Case including Deutsche Bank in all of its Enron-related litigation and pharmaceutical company Takeda.

Linklaters' senior partner, David Cheyne: “This is an established team with strong standing in the eyes of a number of our major global clients.”

Their arrival boosts Linklaters’ litigation team in the US to nine partners. All the partners, both new and existing, have been lateral hires from Shearman and White & Case.

The firm has had a history of plundering White & Case and Shearman over the
years, bringing on former New York office head, Marianne Rosenberg from
White & Case in 1998 and Shearman's co-head of the securitisation and
derivatives group, Gary Barnett, in 2004.