Barlow Lyde & Gilbert has added to its corporate practice with the hire of a new partner from the London office of Covington & Burling.
Simon Gamblin, currently a special counsel at Covington, will join Barlows’ seven-partner corporate practice in April. Gamblin previously practised at Clifford Chance, where he sat within the corporate group, and his experience includes international and domestic M&A, restructuring and private equity work.
Gamblin’s hire comes as the UK firm attempts to expand its London corporate practice.
Barlows senior partner Richard Dedman told Legal Week: “Over the last nine months we have been trying to rebuild a plundered team. We will continue to hire more partners, but we are back in terms of numbers and we are well-placed to hire more people in this volatile and shaky market.”
The firm has lost a number of lawyers over the last two years from both transactional and non-transactional practice groups. These include financial services and regulatory partner Chris Warren-Smith, who joined Fulbright & Jaworski, and a litigation team led by Clare Canning, which defected to the London office of Mayer Brown.
Last month the firm brought in Peter Flint from Watson Farley & Williams to head up its international arbitration practice, while in January
it hired two professional liability partners.
Gamblin said: “I researched surveys about associate morale [at the firm] and each individual case had an individual reason [for leaving]. I have seen the work they are doing and it does not tally with the departures.”
