Skadden shores up European M&A with Paris placement

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has become the latest US firm to transfer a heavyweight partner to its Paris office in the form of senior corporate partner Blaine Fogg.

M&A specialist Fogg is expected to move to Paris within the next week. A recognised leader in his field, Fogg, who has practised with Skadden since 1966, was a protégé of legendary New York corporate lawyer Joe Flom.

Bruce Buck, European managing partner at Skadden, said: “The reason [Fogg] is moving to Paris is to bolster our M&A practice in Europe and to maintain our position as a leading firm in this area.”

Last year, according to The Lawyer Euro 100, Skadden’s combined European revenue was £82m from its offices spanning London, Paris and Germany.

Skadden is the third US firm that has in recent months drafted in a senior partner to France. Latham & Watkins recently moved John Watson, vice-chair of the firm’s corporate department for Europe, from Frankfurt to the French capital.

Earlier this year, Carl Lobell, trade practices and regulatory law partner, and former co-chair of the department at Weil Gotshal & Manges, made the leap from New York to France, ostensibly to cement the firm’s long-running relationship with US conglomerate General Electric (GE).

GE is in the process of conducting a review of its European legal advisers after shaking up its US firms.