White & Case is set to announce a committee of partners to lead its London finance practice following the departure of star partners Maurice Allen and Mike Goetz to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
The committee, which will be responsible for the US firm’s finance strategy in the City, will be drawn from its four main practice sub-groups: high-yield finance; structured finance; capital markets; and bank finance.
The 30-partner practice is one of the largest finance teams in the City and responsible for many of the firm’s key client relationships.
The committee will be responsible for regrouping the practice after a period of unrest at White & Case - despite what is widely regarded as a highly successful expansion - and will be supported by US-based global co-head of banking Eric Berg.
Allen and Goetz resigned from White & Case’s City arm last week amid tensions between the firm’s central management and its City branch, with some senior banking lawyers in London pushing for more autonomy and greater influence over decision-making. One of the central complaints was the City’s lack of representation on the firm’s newly-appointed management board.
The move by Freshfields to hire the duo will be viewed as a surprise by some rivals in the City, as the firm is seen as being less focused on finance since its sweeping partnership restructuring in 2006. The appointments are also an unusual lateral appointment for Freshfields, which hardly ever recruits into its partnership in London.
In response to this, Freshfields argues that the duo will provide the “missing link” in its finance practice, which last year saw the departure of partners David Ereira and Brian Gray to arch-rival Linklaters.
Perry Noble (pictured), the co-head of finance for Freshfields, commented: “Our finance practice has evolved from four or five niche areas to two large ‘engine room’ businesses which complement the core corporate finance franchises of the firm. This is the injection of lender DNA that we needed.”
Prior to Allen and Goetz joining, the firm had around 12 London banking partners, with only one focused exclusively on bank relationships. The firm hopes that the new additions will help it build on existing relationships with the pair’s top clients - namely Deutsche Bank and private equity house CVC Capital Partners.
The relationship with Deutsche, also a Freshfields client, generated around £10m in fees for White & Case’s London arm in 2007 and was overseen by Goetz.
Noble added: “I would not say we are where we want to be quite yet but this marks an important milestone. We want to be leveraged law firm of choice for our key clients and for that we need the right people.”
Meanwhile, Freshfields has promoted banking senior associates Tazim Hall and Alex Mitchell to partner in the firm’s latest round of internal appointments, effective from 1 May (see page 4).
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