Boston-based firm Brown Rudnick’s London office is continuing on its path of aggressive expansion by netting finance partner Neil Pigott from US specialist firm Mandel Katz Manna & Brosnan.
Pigott, whose background includes stints at both Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling, will join Brown Rudnick in the bankruptcy and finance department.
His hire comes in the wake of European department head Peter Declercq, who arrived in January from the London office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.
Pigott has particular experience in distressed debt and project and acquisition finance.
Declercq told The Lawyer that in the US, the firm’s restructuring and finance partners work closely. Whilst Declercq has a solid restructuring background, Pigott will provide finance skills to the London team.
In the US, Brown Rudnick undertakes significant insolvency work with hedge funds, such as indentured trustees in Delphi Automotive. The hope is that the firm can offer just as strong a practice in London to clients based in the UK, to compete directly with Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft and Bingham McCutchen.
Pigott’s hire squares with the growth strategy of Brown Rudnick’s London office. In January, London managing partner Scott Burns told The Lawyer that he hoped to double the London headcount of 11 by the end of the year. “We’ve come pretty close to that,” he said today. “We’ve had seven hires, and have several in the pipeline.”
A third partner is expected to join the bankruptcy and restructuring team by the end of the year, said Declercq.
Other recent lateral partner hires include litigation partner Stephen Hallam from CMS Cameron McKenna, who also brought an associate Neill Shrimpton.
