Banking and finance

Shearman’s EMEA head to leave firm

Ward McKimm, Shearman & Sterling’s European and Middle East regional managing partner, is leaving the firm less than two months before its Allen & Overy tie-up goes live. A statement from Shearman and McKimm read: “Shearman & Sterling and Ward McKimm jointly confirm that, after a nearly-30 year career as a leading high-yield and leveraged […]

Kirkland set to hire A&O finance partner

A member of Allen & Overy’s City finance team is set to leave the firm for Kirkland & Ellis, having joined the magic circle firm over a year ago. Capital markets specialist Marwa Elborai is making the move to Kirkland. She joined A&O in January 2023 having moved across from Shearman & Sterling after 16 […]

Nationwide Building

Slaughters and Clifford Chance lead on Nationwide’s Virgin Money deal

Slaughter and May and Clifford Chance have lined up for Nationwide’s proposed acquisition of Virgin Money UK. Slaughters partner David Watkins acted for the buyer, Nationwide. Meanwhile Clifford Chance acted for Virgin Money. The team is being led by partners Katherine Moir and David Pudge, with support from employment partners Sonia Gilbert and Chinwe Odimba-Chapman, […]

Zilch

Revolut lawyer joins Zilch as new GC

Payment platform Zilch has recruited its new general counsel from Revolut. Amy Sandys will assume her first general counsel role at Zilch, after working as head of legal, corporate, at the banking app company. The new general counsel will take over from Natalie Salunke, who left the business in January 2024. Salunke joined Zilch in […]

Linklaters set to lose leveraged finance co-head to Gibson Dunn

The latest in an ongoing series of partner losses for the magic circle firm, Linklaters’ co-head of leveraged finance is poised to move to Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. David Irvine is set to join the US firm’s London team just three years after returning to Linklaters.  Irvine had spent the first 14 years of his […]

Allen & Overy

Milbank loses five-strong team to A&O

A structured finance team is moving to Allen & Overy, soon to be A&O Shearman, from Milbank’s London office. Partner John Goldfinch is leading the move to the magic circle firm. He focuses on CLOs and related markets, with his arrival expanding A&O’s capabilities in acting for private capital clients. He will be joined by […]

Addleshaws bolsters financial services team with Bank of England hire

Addleshaw Goddard has snapped up the deputy general counsel at the Bank of England to strengthen its financial services regulation team. Tess Kelly will return to private practice after almost 11 years inhouse. She starts at the firm on 19 February. The move comes after the hire of senior financial regulation partner James Greig. Partners […]

clifford chance building

Clifford Chance swipes Paul Hastings partner for private capital expertise

Clifford Chance has hired a partner from Paul Hastings to bolster its private capital offering in London. Blake Jones, who makes the move having spent the last five years at the US firm, will join Clifford Chance’s global financial markets team as the firm expands its European collateralised loan obligations (CLO) practice. Jones has also […]

Hilton

Claim spotter: IP clash breaks out in Big Pharma, while Hilton takes on Zurich

Pharma wars: Hampshire firm takes on Aspirin producer An IP battle has begun between Hampshire-headquartered Aspire Pharma and German behemouth Bayer after the former filed a part 7 ‘patents and registered designs’ claim on Wednesday 7 February. Bayer is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, responsible for products including Aspirin, Claritin and Rennie, […]

hsbc
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HSBC lines up inaugural ALSP panel

Seven outfits have won places on banking giant HSBC’s first-ever panel for alternative legal services providers (ALSPs). The Lawyer understands that HSBC has named Radiant Law, Cognia Law, Deloitte Legal, LOD/Syke and Ashurst Advance to its roster. Two other firms will focus solely on staff augmentation: they are Flex Legal, which was recently snapped up […]

Mitsubishi UFJ’s co-GCs chiefs on why two heads are better than one

Since The Lawyer last interviewed Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s co-general counsels James Morgan and Prabhat Kumar in 2020, the globe has witnessed enough significant events to last a few decades. Specifically highlighting Covid-19, the Russia/Ukraine conflict, high inflation and the gilt crisis, the pair have focussed on how they adapt their team to cope with […]

London towers, office City

Travers finance partner exits for Simpson Thacher

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has added another partner to its London office from Travers Smith, its fourth from the firm in a year. Katie McMenamin joins her former colleagues in the funds finance team. Other Travers partners to have switched this year are financial regulatory partner Stephanie Biggs, and funds duo Ed Ford and Sacha […]