Moves: 18 February 2013

Move of the week

Clifford Chance banking and finance group head Evan Cohen has been appointed as the firm’s Americas regional managing partner. Cohen has led Clifford Chance’s Americas banking practice since 2005 and specialises in acquisition and leveraged finance, project finance, syndicated lending and restructurings. Current Americas head Craig Medwick will return to the corporate practice following the completion of his second and final term on 30 April.

UK

London

Private client tax partner Ian Lane has left DAC Beachcroft to join Hodge Jones & Allen, where he will practise in the private client team.

Cripps Harries Hall has hired two lawyers into its employment practice: David Evans and Christopher Bains. Evans joins as partner from Finers Stephens Innocent and Bains joins as a solicitor from the Gatwick employment department of Thomas Eggar.

Berwin Leighton Paisner has appointed international contentious construction partner David Robertson to its global arbitration capabilities. Previously Robertson was a partner at Fenwick Elliott in its international arbitration practice

Causeway Law has added corporate partner Pamela Reynolds to its team from an in-house position as legal counsel for FTSE 250 listed ICAP.

Stone King has hired new partner Rod Smith for its trusts and estates team from London-based Bolt Burdon, where he was a partner and head of the firm’s wealth and estate planning team.

Fladgate has bolstered its funds, financial services and banking practices with the appointment of partner Charles Proctor from Edwards Wildman Palmer and associate Edward Morgan from Nabarro.

Davenport Lyons has appointed Philip and Geoffrey Rutter from Collyer Bristow. Philip Rutter joins as partner and Geoffrey Rutter as a consultant in the family team.

North

Slater Heelis has relaunched its family department with the hire of former Stowe Family Law managing partner Kate Rayner. Two associates are also joining the family team: Helen Miller from James Maguire & Co and Helen Thompson from Gregorys Solicitors.

South

Yeovil-based Battens Solicitors has made a trio of appointments: personal injury lawyer Kate Golding joins as a senior associate and Kelly Payne and Gayle Defries have become associates.

Europe

Olswang has added new partner Thomas Schubert to its German team to focus on corporate, restructuring and insolvency. He was previously an associate at Mayer Brown.

Eversheds has named a new managing partner for its Vienna office, as the incumbent steps down after completing his two-year term. Georg Röhsner, who headed the Austria office’s IT team, was elected unanimously to managing partner after standing unopposed for the role. He will replace Alexander Stolitzka, who steps down after completing a two-year term and will return to a fee-earning role, heading the office’s real estate and retail team.

Austrian firm Schoenherr has completed its merger with Turkey’s Türkoğlu & Celepçi, announced last year. The Istanbul firm’s founding partner Levent Celepçi has joined Schoenherr’s equity partnership with the start of the firm’s new business year on 1 February 2013.

Marcin Muszel has joined Gide Loyrette Nouel as a partner in its Warsaw real estate team. Muszel joins from Linklaters, where he was a senior associate.

Austria’s Wolf Theiss has announced promotions and has also recruited energy finance specialist Erika Pircher-Eschig as a counsel. Pircher-Eschig trained at Wolf Theiss before working at Allen & Overy and Dewey & LeBoeuf in London. Meanwhile, corporate lawyer Laura Struc has been promoted to counsel, and Valerie Hohenberg and Ľubica Páleníková have been promoted to senior associate.

Baker & McKenzie has elected Jorge Adell as the managing partner of its Barcelona office with immediate effect. He succeeds Esteban Raventós, who was managing partner between 2009 and 2012 and returns to practice in the firm’s tax team. Adell has led the corporate and M&A practices of Baker & McKenzie in Barcelona since 2006.

McCann FitzGerald has named Fergus Gillen as head of its banking and financial services group. Gillen succeeds Ambrose Loughlin, who has led the group since 2000. He joined McCann Fitzgerald in 1997, leaving for Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in 1999 before rejoining the Irish firm in 2002. Gillen was made up in 2004.

Offshore

Ogier has promoted three new partners to to its global litigation team: Mathew Newman is based in Guernsey, Rachael Reynolds is in the Cayman practice and Nick Williams works from Jersey.

US

White & Case has boosted its US mergers and acquisitions practice with the addition of Daniel Dufner as a partner in its New York office. He rejoins from White & Case from Linklaters, where he was a partner.

Reed Smith has hired Tisha Schestopol as a healthcare counsel in its life sciences health industry group in Washington DC. Schestopol was formerly a senior regulatory attorney at Human Genome Sciences

Morgan Lewis has rehired Willard Tom as a partner in its antitrust practice. He was previously general counsel of the Federal Trade Commission.

J Mathias von Bernuth has joined Skadden as a partner in its São Paulo office. He moves from Shearman & Sterling, where he was a partner based in New York.

Morgan Lewis has hired Christopher Amandes to its environmental practice, based in Houston. Amandes was a partner at Vinson & Elkins.

Asia Pacific

HWL Ebsworth Lawyers has expanded its banking and financial services team with the appointment of regulatory specialists Andrew Galvin and Michael Anastas as partners. They both join from Corrs Chambers Westgarth.

Middle East

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher has added Richard Ernest to its Dubai office as a partner. Previously a partner in the Abu Dhabi office of Clifford Chance, Ernest will continue his banking and finance practice.

Clifford Chance has promoted Jason Mendens to corporate partner in its Doha office. He was previously based in the firm’s Sydney office.

Finance partner Simon Baum, who works on energy projects in the Middle East and Asia, has joined Berwin Leighton Paisner from Allen & Overy in London, where he was a finance consultant.