Watson Farley gains US securities expert

TOP US securities' lawyer Robert Schreiner has left Kelley, Drye and Warren to join Watson, Farley & Williams' New York office.

The move is part of Watson Farley's expansion plans for the New York securities' division. The office plans to recruit Americans in preference to British lawyers.

It has not yet been decided how many new partners will be needed for the office as it expands. Schreiner says the expansion is due to closer links between the world's financial markets.

He says: "The prospects for a truly international firm like Watson, Farley & Williams at this time appear very bright especially in the securities area with the continuous expansion and inter-linkage of the world's financial markets."

Schreiner has practised in New York and Belgium.

A spokeswoman for the firm says: "We are recruiting US lawyers to make the office a truly New York practice rather than an English branch office." The firm's clients, she adds, are mainly US banks and US-based multinationals.