Ropes & Gray signs up first London lateral with White & Case partner hire

Ropes & Gray has made its first London lateral hire, just days after announcing the firm's entrance into the London market.

High-yield partner Jonathan Bloom is set to join the nascent practice from White & Case. He will join the firm's debt finance group.

White & Case confirmed Bloom's departure, although a leaving date is yet to be agreed. He joined the US firm in January 2007, prior to which he was at Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson, where he was a counsel in the City.

Boston's Ropes & Gray announced its intention to launch in the City in January 2010 last week with the hire of City finance duo Maurice Allen and Mike Goetz, supported by senior US-based partners Newcomb Stillwell and David Chapin - marking the US firm's first European office.

Bloom commented: "My focus on representing private equity houses, hedge funds and investments banks in a variety of financing transactions has led me to seek a platform that will provide my clients with the breadth and depth of resources they require."

Bloom's departure is a blow to White & Case's wider banking and capital markets practice, which has seen a number of departures over the year. However, the firm's high-yield offering, which is headed up by partners Rob Mathews and Colin Chang, is still regarded as one of the leading practices in the City.

Meanwhile, Kirkland & Ellis has firmed up its restructuring practice in the City with the appointment of Partha Kar and Kon Asimacopoulos as the co-heads of the firm's London team, while Leo Plank leads the team in Munich.

The changes come in the wake of the departure of European restructuring head Lyndon Norley last week.

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