He will open the firm’s first capability in Brussels when he joins as an international trade and competition partner in February.
The new operation, which adds to the firm’s nine-office international network, will strengthen the firm’s transactional and competition capabilities in the region, a move the firm says has been fuelled by growing client demand.
Horovitz, who will sit in the firm’s corporate, projects and finance group, was the former managing partner of Addleshaws’ local arm. He was the national firm’s sole resident partner in the Belgian capital before it closed the seven-lawyer branch in 2004. He then spent two years at Squire Sanders & Dempsey, before becoming a sole practitioner.
Horovitz specialises in global regulation and has worked for the European Commission and the World Trade Organisation. He is a member of the professional advisory board of the University of Hong Kong’s Asian Institute of International Financial Law and served as chair of the Trade & Customs Law Committee of the International Bar Association for two years from 2006.
Holman Fenwick plans to bolster its corporate capabilities over the coming months, with the firm looking at other jurisdictions outside the European Union.
The corporate department, which includes ship finance and other transactional shipping matters, accounts for 30% of its revenue, but the firm says this could rise to around 50% during the next five years.
The firm expanded its shipping group after Clifford Chance transferred its shipping practice to Holman as part of a wholesale review of the magic circle giant’s litigation department.
Holman Fenwick’s corporate, projects and finance head, Alistair Mackie, said: “The expansion of our corporate practice is key to the future of the firm and with Dan’s arrival we get a valuable extra dimension to our capabilities.”
Other shipping firms to have expanded their corporate capabilities include Clyde & Co, which is attempting to broaden its transactional offering through a series of hires, cross-selling and profile-raising activities.
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