Chadbourne & Parke has gained banking and restructuring capability in London following a raid on Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe.
Chadbourne has taken Orrick’s head of European insolvency and restructuring Adrian Harris, who was also the firm’s London managing partner in 2004 and 2005.
Harris moves across with barrister Diane McLean and Ceinwyn Bannister, an associate who is qualified as a barrister in New Zealand.
The move gives Chadbourne its first bankruptcy capability in London, to go alongside its Warsaw offering and strong New York capability.
Chadbourne’s New York-based bankruptcy head Howard Seife said: “More of our cases are international in scope and Adrian and his team will give a significant boost to the group’s international reach.”
London managing partner Claude Serfilippi said: “Cases with a cross-border scope required us to have a presence on the ground here in London. We’ve seen the demand and now with the team in place it will be a lot easier to pitch and service.”
The hire follows the firm’s recruitment of finance partner Jennifer Handz, who joined the Russia and CIS practice from the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development where she was senior counsel (www.the lawyer.com, 9 October).
Serfilippi said the hires showed the firm’s commitment to its international offices. In February Chadbourne managing partner Charles O’Neill told The Lawyer that the London office would see no ill effects from a poor 2005 financial year, which saw revenue fall by 5 per cent to $229m (£123.4m).
