Ropes boosts London corporate with Jones Day hire
Ropes & Gray has further boosted its London private equity practice with a second lateral partner hire in the space of a month.
The US firm has snared M&A partner Peter Baldwin from Jones Day just a few weeks after DLA Piper corporate partner Kiran Sharma also joined the office.
Baldwin, joined Jones Day from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft where he was also a partner, having joined in 2005 following 11 years at Slaughter and May. He will join Ropes at the start of May.
Baldwin has a mixed practice that includes private equity and mainstream M&A transactions. He also advises banks on special situation funds and has strong relationships with Goldman Sachs and Deutshebank.
Co-managing partner for London Mike Goetz said that the hire matched the firm’s plans to build a wide-ranging private equity practice in the City.
“What we’re trying to do is have a broadly based practice,” added Goetz. “He [Baldwin] can do the private equity work but he can also do the restructuring side.
“We look at this as a team. Part of what we said [when the office was set up] was that the best approach would be to attract a team of mid-level or junior partners who felt that they wanted to do something a little more entrepreneurial.”
The firm is understood to want to continue to grow its London presence in the coming months. The office was set up in January 2010 and now numbers 10 partners.
Readers' comments (6)
Simon Bradshaw | 9-Mar-2011 3:14 pm
Am I missing something here? Ropes talk a great game and yet have hired a bunch of young and mediocre (at best) partners. Looks like the London senior guys are acting like in house GCs ie telling everyone they want to recruit the best but really just hiring solid practitioners who won't threaten their hegemony in the London office....all very predictable
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Jesper Olsen | 9-Mar-2011 3:36 pm
At least they're finally hiring though, rather than just talking about it. Small acorns and all that, Simon.
Ropes & Gray - it's rhyming slang for 'Here to Stay' anyway.
eg. Do you reckon Fabregas is leaving in the summer? No mate, he's Ropes.
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Anonymous | 9-Mar-2011 5:16 pm
Peter is a decent and competent fellow, but he is not one of the leading business developpers of his generation and could not accurately be described as a private equity lawyer. He and DLA salaried partne Kiran Sharma are not the first choices for Ropes, as they spent ages trying to entice two Linklaters partners last year. The combination of Maurice in London and some impressive US partners has created a formidable selling unit, but perhaps it is the junior lawyers who are more more open to persuasion, oh yes and cheaper to hire
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Randulph the Gallant | 9-Mar-2011 5:32 pm
Ropes & Gray - it's also rhyming slang for 'nfw'
It's a bit of a losing game that one in terms of firm marketing I would have thought.
Anyway, good luck to Peter Baldwin, he is a good person and lawyer.
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Henrik Larsson | 9-Mar-2011 5:37 pm
Hey Jesper Olsen
Arsenal are from North London, and thus not supported by Cockney villans from the East End, who would really only dream up this rhyming-slang were they cognisant of miniscule US satellite law firms, such as Ropes & Gray, which they are not. Hail hail!
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Anonymous | 10-Mar-2011 11:19 am
i think both hires are potentially very interesting. Okay, so they are not magic circle - so what! Lots of partners outside the top tier are very good partners and if Ropes provide the right platform and infrastructure for Peter and Kiran to develop then I think they will both do very well. Both good and likeable partners - well done Ropes.
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