Moves roundup; 22 September 2008

Move of the week

• Norton Rose has hired former DLA Piper head of private equity in Italy, Davide ­Proverbio. He will be based in the firm’s Milan office.

• A busy week at DLA Piper. The Hong Kong office has hired real estate partner Susheela Rivers from Clifford Chance, where she was an associate; former DEPFA Bank managing ­director Klaus Kunze joins the New York litigation practice as a senior adviser; capital markets lawyer Dr Liu Wei has been appointed Beijing managing ­partner; and seven new partners have been made up in the fast-growing Middle East offices. They are: Simon Davidson and Dianne Jungmann in corporate; David Harley, Gurmeet Kaur and Bruce Linke in finance and projects;
and Hinal Patel and Joycia Young in technology, media and ­commercial. Mario D’Ovidio, also a ­former ­associate at Clifford Chance, has joined the Milan office as a partner in the finance and banking group.

• Norton Rose has boosted its Singapore office with the hire of former Clyde & Co partner Leigh Borrello. He will lead the Singapore aviation finance team.

• US firm Crowell & Moring has recruited ­Belgian partner Flip Petillion to the firm’s IP group in Brussels. He was previously at local firm Janson Baugniet.

• Manchester-based firm JMW has taken on ­corporate partner Chris King from Heatons.

• US firm Mayer Brown has promoted Bruce Bloomingdale to London head of finance. He takes over from Ian Coles who remains global head of the finance practice.

• Brabners Chaffe Street partner Paul ­Chamberlain has been appointed to the ­Recruitment & Employment Confederation’s agency workers commission panel as a legal adviser.

• US firm Bingham McCutchen has expanded its Washington DC securities practice by hiring former Foley & Lardner partners Michael Wolk and Amy Kroll.

• Irish firm Beauchamps Solicitors has ­appointed Shaun O’Shea as managing partner. He takes over from Imelda Reynolds, who held the position for six years and who returns as a partner in the commercial property department.

• North West firm Napthens has hired ­corporate partner James Allison from Pannone, where he was head of entrepreneurial services.

• Irwin Mitchell personal injury partner Muiris Lyons has joined London litigation boutique Stewarts Law as head of the clinical negligence department.

• Charles Russell has hired IP lawyer Kate O’Rourke as senior counsel from Dechert.

• Scottish firm Morton Fraser has promoted Fiona Sasan to partner in the Glasgow family law team. The department now has one partner and four lawyers in the city.

• Manches has hired Lovells’ John Doherty as a partner in the technology, media and IP group.

• Offshore firm Mourant du Feu & Jeune has chosen funds head Neal Lomax to lead the ­Cayman Islands office.

• Tunbridge Wells firm Cripps Harries Hall has hired Addleshaw Goddard commercial dispute resolution assistant Catherine Hurst.

• Nottingham firm Andersons Solicitors has hired three new lawyers: Ann Elliott, formerly of Flint Bishop in Derby, as an assistant in the ­family law group; employment legal executive Stephen Luke from Cartwright King; and legal executive Marcus Brown, previously of ­Carringtons, in the disputes department.

• South East firm Mayo Wynne Baxter has ­raided local rival ASB Law for two partners: Lee Hills and Alan Larkin. Hills specialises in travel claims while Larkin will work in family law.

• Former Challinors personal injury partner Paul Debney has moved to the Leicester office of Weightmans.

• Assistant solicitor Graham Smith has joined Essex-based enforcement lawyers Shergroup. He was previously with the Smith Law Partnership in Braintree, Essex.

• Campbell Hooper computer games partner Alex Chapman has moved to media boutique Sheridans as head of entertainment software.

• US firm Bryan Cave has hired counsel Jennifer Russell in the products liability and commercial litigation group. Prior to the move, she was ­director of insurance litigation at The Boeing Company.

• London-based Katten Muchin Rosenman Cornish has recruited tax partner Andrew Turner from Speechly Bircham and corporate partner Imran Sami from Simmons & Simmons, where he was an associate.