Jones Day hires City partner as construction practice head

Dundas & Wilson loses construction partner to Jones Day as US firm makes second lateral hire in a week

Jones Day has made its second lateral hire in as many weeks, bringing in a partner from Dundas & Wilson's London office to head its construction practice.

Hamish Lal will join the US firm at the beginning of October, bringing with him a practice encompassing both contentious and non-contentious advice covering real estate, utilities, engineering, nuclear and project finance matters. His clients include a number of construction and nuclear energy companies.

Lal, who joined the Scottish firm in 2006 as a partner from Four New Square Chambers, also headed the London construction practice at Dundas.

Lal told Legal Week: "Jones Day is a brilliant brand with an excellent platform. This is an absolutely irresistible opportunity. It is a good market for construction and contentious work and I look forward to getting started at the firm."

Russell Carmedy, Jones Day's London head, added: "[Construction] is an important self-standing practice area and it adds value to other practices, most notably real estate, litigation and project finance. Hamish has an outstanding reputation in this field and we are delighted that he is joining us."

Lal's appointment comes after Jones Day hired Mayer Brown's London competition and antitrust head Frances Murphy.

Murphy joined Jones Day on 1 September as London head of antitrust. Her practice focuses on the pharmaceutical, biotech, telecoms, retail and construction sectors.

The London antitrust practice at Jones Day had been without a head since the departure of Greg Olsen to Clifford Chance in 2007. Murphy will become the firm's third London-based antitrust partner.

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