Dewey can learn from predatory Leboeuf

LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & McRae’s London office is getting something of a predatory reputation for its London hiring - something the firm's appointment of a two-partner capital markets team from Dewey Ballantine this week (see story) has done little to counter.

The hire of Dewey's international capital markets head, Camille Abousleiman, and fellow partner Louise Roman Bernstein comes just months after LeBoeuf brought in a three-partner environment team from Freshfields.

The common thread between the hires is that LeBoeuf has grabbed them the moment they looked to leave. Some of the Freshfields partners had just taken early retirement and the Dewey departures were the latest in a series of exits since the firm announced its merger talks with Orrick Herrington & Sutclife - talks which have since failed.

Both Dewey and Abousleiman freely admit that it was the merger talks that led to his decision to leave and even the last-minute collapse of the discussions could not bring him to change his mind.

This is not to play down the hires. Abousleiman – also head of emerging markets – has been one of Dewey’s most active names in the last 12 months. It was Abousleiman that took the leading role for Cosmote, Greece’s biggest wireless operator, on its acquisition of a 42% stake in mobile phone retailer Germanos for $1.58bn (£835m).

He also advised on two major Middle East deals, leading for Dubai-based Investcom on its $5.5bn (£2.97bn) takeover by MTN and on hotel and resort development company Kingdom Hotel Investments’ $397m (£227m) listing.

In fact, many name Abousleiman - with his close links with several major Middle Eastern and eastern European clients, including the Lebanese Government and a number of banks - as the most visible partner in Dewey’s London office.

LeBoeuf will no doubt be happy that, although it does not have a reputation for capital markets in London, the team – which apparently held talks with a number of other US firms in recent months – is considered a self-contained unit and should be able to transfer clients.

Dewey meanwhile, will need to take action to make sure the departures - the first merger-related moves in London - are not the start of many.

According to former colleagues, Abousleiman had developed a reputation for being hard to work with and insiders at Dewey argue that his departure will make it easier for future hiring. If that is true, the firm would do well to take a leaf out of LeBoeuf’s book and start looking for some recruitment opportunities of its own.

georgina.stanley@legalweek.com