Bi resigned from the top 20 firm this week (6 November), although her departure date is subject to negotiation and she is likely to be required to serve a period of gardening leave.
Last year Dentons held departing finance partner Chris Fanner to a full nine-month notice period before he joined Herbert Smith.
Bi represents the fifth in a series of debt capital markets partner hires co-ordinated by Norton Rose global banking chief Stephen Parish. The appointments have come in response to the departure of a four-partner securitisation team, led by Jonathan Walsh, to Baker & McKenzie in May 2005.
The latest hire also follows the departure of Norton Rose Dubai Islamic finance partners Nadim Khan and Zubair Mir to Herbert Smith last year.
Commenting on the capture of Bi, Parish told Legal Week: “Farmida is the perfect next piece of the jigsaw. She specialises in debt capital banking with a huge overlay of Islamic finance. She will add further depth to our market-leading Islamic finance capabilities and boost our offering in international securities.”
Bi will work closely with Islamic finance partner Neil D Miller, who transferred into the capital markets team around a year ago with the aim of bringing the two practice sectors closer together.
In June 2005, Parish announced the ‘blueprint’ according to which the firm would rebuild its capital markets team following the Bakers raid.
Since then the firm has hired former Lovells partner Laurence Garside, senior Allen & Overy and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer lawyers Tak Matsuda and Sandrine Sauvel, who both joined as partners, and former Barclays Capital director Dean Naumowicz.
Bi’s resignation follows the recent departure of Dentons banking partner Natalie Elphicke, who joined Addleshaw Goddard in July this year.
