Shearman & Sterling’s London office is continuing its aggressive recruitment drive after taking on another former Linklaters lawyer.
John Schmidt, a senior associate in competition who has experience in a number of areas, including EU, UK, German and multijurisdictional merger control, spent five years in Brussels at his former firm before returning to London in 2002.
His arrival ups the tally of ex-Linklaters lawyers who have moved over to Shearman’s London office to three. These include corporate heavyweight Peter King, who announced plans to join the US firm earlier this year and who starts in August following a period of gardening leave. Project finance associate Katherine Cooke-Priest has also moved to Shearman.
Schmidt’s recruitment coincides with the return of antitrust expert David Wales to Shearman’s Washington DC office from the US Department of Justice (DoJ).
Wales served from 2001-03 as counsel to Charles James, the Assistant Attorney-General of the DoJ’s antitrust division, as well as to James’s successor, Robert Hewitt Pate.
During his time at the DoJ, Wales was involved in a number of high-profile cases, including the US government’s antitrust action against Microsoft.
Wales’s former boss Pate has been serving as Acting Assistant Attorney-General since James left in November last year to become general counsel at ChevronTexaco. However, yesterday (16 June) Pate, a former partner at Hunton & Williams, was officially appointed into the role after a Senate vote.