White & Case partner set to join Morgan Stanley
White & Case London-based partner Mark Glengarry is set to join Morgan Stanley as a managing director in its investment banking division.
Glengarry joined White & Case in 2003 and was promoted to partner in 2009. He focuses his practice on financial restructuring and insolvency and was one of the lawyers who advised on Greece’s £110bn bailout. Alongside Allen & Overy, the White & Case team of Glengarry and partners Ian Clark, Michael Doran and Gavin McLean advised the steering committee of the private creditor investor committee for Greece on the bailout agreement (22 February 2012).
Commenting on his new appointment, Glengarry said: “Joining Morgan Stanley in a business role is very exciting. I look forward to continuing to work with my friends and colleagues at White & Case. I want to thank the firm for the fantastic opportunities and support that they gave me over the last nine years.”
He will leave White & Case at the end of next week but it is unknown when exactly he is due to start his new role at Morgan Stanley.
Rob Mathews, regional head of the firm’s Western Europe, Middle East and Africa banking and capital markets group, said: “We’ll miss Mark but fully understand and support his decision to take a senior position with one of our leading clients. We look forward to continuing to work with him in the future and thank him for his many contributions to the firm.”
Glengarry’s departure leaves the financial restructuring and insolvency team with 14 lawyers, including three partners. His exit follows the departure of funds partner Matthew Judd to Ropes & Gray last month, along with associates Joshua Cronin and Anand Damodaran (13 February 2012).
Earlier this week the firm’s global securitisation head Richard Reilly jumped ship to DLA Piper in the US (12 March 2012).
Mathews told The Lawyer that the firm had no immediate plans to replace Glengarry. “The firm has a well established financial restructuring and insolvency team with strong leadership at the partner and senior associate level, so we’re not looking to replace Mark immediately, but may add to the team in due course,” he said.
View results 10 per page | 20 per page
Readers' comments (12)
Anonymous | 14-Mar-2012 5:30 pm
Is it common for people from a legal background to go into a business role?
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 14-Mar-2012 6:27 pm
Pretty unusual - good on Mr Glengarry!
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 14-Mar-2012 7:24 pm
Not another departure. He was only made partner in 2009. This is worrying. What is going on?
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Marcin | 15-Mar-2012 7:27 am
Re Anonymous: - We all hope it is. Legal profession is so boring.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Vercingetorix | 15-Mar-2012 10:17 am
These moves are rarely successful. Matthew French's moves to UBS and Nomura for example; he's now back at Jones Day.
The odds are on Glengarry being back in legal practice within 2 years.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 15-Mar-2012 10:28 am
"What is going on"? Are you serious? He's just landed one of the leading jobs in the European finance market - that's what's going on. It doesn't speak to anything else.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
A Chowdhury | 15-Mar-2012 11:54 am
I really don't understand as to why big law partners are seduced by investment banks ? Several white shoe firm partners had made such kind of decision in the past !!
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Hermann | 15-Mar-2012 12:39 pm
Costa Concordia, White & Case....
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
The Word | 15-Mar-2012 3:58 pm
I think in this case, it's quite product specific. Unlike the new money areas which are as much about fanciful financial projections and flesh pressing as they are hard judgements and clever negotiation, navigating a financial restructuring successfully comes down very starkly to seeing the relative leverage of each stakeholder at any given moment, which is itself rooted in the complex network of legal relationships that exist in a corporate distress situation. International banking and insolvency, corporate and securities law amongst other areas all comes into sharp focus on a big workout as it's these issues that drive the strategy, more so than in any other product area. Those on the business side that are alive to these specifics will, along with the lead counsel on the restructuring, have the commercial agenda.
I think the longevity angle to these roles is a red herring. In Mark's case, he is a first class lawyer with world class experience and a deep appreciation of the commercial context of restructuring. Investment banking is also young person's game. He probably takes the view that a few years spent at a prestigious global financial institution will do wonders for his career progression - much more so than staying on the evidently very greasy W&C pole as a junior partner!
If people want to make comparisons, they should note that Dan Maze turned down partnership at W&C to go to a senior business role at (coincidently!) Morgan Stanley, following which he stepped into a heavyweight position at Latham.
I don't think anyone that really understands the market can sensibly suggest that this sort of role is a failure because the person moves back into private practice after a few years. Job for life is not what investment banking is all about.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 15-Mar-2012 5:12 pm
ohhhhhh.........listen to Bamber Gascoigne @ 3:58pm. Fancy!
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment