K&L Gates hires from 3RB as it beats Clifford Chance to FSA insider dealing case
US firm K&L Gates has hired Three Raymond Buildings barrister Christine Braamskamp a year after hiring Addleshaw Goddard corporate crime chief Elizabeth Robertson in a bid to boost its white collar crime expertise in London.
Braamskamp, a member of Three Raymond Buildings since 2002, joined K&L Gates this week as a special counsel. Her hire follows that of Wilkie Farr & Gallagher associate David Savell in September.
Her hire comes as the team, led by Robertson, has been instructed to act for Carl Linderum, the founding partner of hedge fund Lodestone Natural Resources who is facing FSA insider-dealing allegations. A source told The Lawyer that the team won a beauty parade for the work, with other firms to have pitched thought to include Clifford Chance, Kingsley Napley and Withers.
K&L Gates hired Robertson, who featured in The Lawyer’s Hot 100 list for 2013 (28 January 2013), in January last year (18 January 2013) as its first partner in the firm’s white collar crime and criminal defence practice.
November’s win in London’s Southwark Crown Court for Christina Weckwerth in an insider trading case brought by the FSA, in which Robertson’s client was found not guilty of illegally trading and profiting on tips allegedly provided to her by investment banker Thomas Ammann, helped underscore the success of the hire.
Having practised in the Netherlands, Braamskamp is understood to regularly represent Dutch nationals who face criminal proceedings in England. The firm did not comment on whether her hire will trigger further appointments within the team.
