Reed Smith has taken on a 50-lawyer team from King & Wood Mallesons (KWM), in one of the largest group hires made from the collapsed firm.
The group, which will be based across London, Frankfurt, Munich and Paris, is made up of 17 partners, three counsel and 22 associates. In addition, one jurist will join alongside seven trainees, two knowledge management lawyers and six secretaries.
The team focuses on corporate, financial services regulatory and tax work, with London recruits including financial regulatory partners David Calligan, Tim Dolan, Tamasin Little and Adrian Brown. Corporate partners Delphine Currie and Mark Sanders are also joining, as well as private equity partner Laura Brunnen and tax partner Gareth Amdor.
In Paris, the firm will be joined by competition/antitrust partners Marc Lévy and Natasha Tardif; tax partners Sylvie Vansteenkiste, Fanny Combourieu and Raphaël Béra; and corporate and private equity partners Guilain Hippolyte and Pierre-Louis Périn.
In Germany, Reed Smith will be joined by competition/antitrust partner Tilman Siebert and litigation partner Francis Bellen.
Reed Smith EUME managing partner Tamara Box told The Lawyer: “One hire here or there doesn’t move the needle much, but with a team you get the biggest bang for your buck.
There are common client themes in there, especially financial services, private equity and life sciences.”
Reed Smith’s global boss Sandy Thomas was in London at the end of December to meet with KWM partners as talks were stepped up a gear.
The hires are one of the largest made by any firm since the collapse of KWM EUME.
KWM China has taken on a group of 32 partners, plus 12 associates and 12 staff.
Since KWM went into administration last week, the administrators have had to beef up security on 10 Queen Street Place after a number of departing partners have sent junior associates to pick up their files without proper authorisation.
KWM China broke its silence on the collapse of the LLP last week, with Shanghai M&A partner Mark Schaub telling The Lawyer: “We’ve tried to support Europe and refer matters to our European colleagues as well as the rescue offer last year. There is a sense that nothing we could have done differently that could have changed the outcome.”
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