England

Simon Davies – managing partner of London-based global giant Linklaters – will be hoping the Swiss resort town of Montreux brings him more luck than it did Frank Zappa and his iconoclastic band, The Mothers of Invention. Back in 1971, during a Mothers’ concert at the town’s casino, an over-exuberant fan managed to raise the building to the ground by loosing off with an errant flare gun. The incident inspired Deep Purple’s hit single ‘Smoke on the Water’ and the casino re-opened four years later.
Some 40 years on and a far more mundane gathering is set to roll into Montreux this April in the form of the Linklaters’ partnership meeting. But while the event is unlikely to register on most of the locals’ radar, it is certainly a big fixture in Mr Davies diary as the highlight of the meeting will be a ‘physical’ vote on his bid for another term in the top management slot. The move has been forced, according to reports in UK newspaper Legal Week, by his failure to reach the 75 per cent mark in an electronic poll held a few days ago.
Mr Davies fell some 15 per cent short of the magic number, with abstentions apparently being counted as ‘no’ votes. Sources at the firm are reported to have told the newspaper that many partners abstained in protest at recent management decisions that are going to see 35 partners shunted out of the practice in a significant reorganisation that will result in other partners losing their equity status.
Of course, if Mr Davies fails to be re-elected, he can always check into a suite in that classic of belle époque architecture, Le Montreux Palace, and kill a few weeks before slipping into a black polo neck jumper and heading down to opening night of the renowned annual jazz festival, which kicks off at the end of June. The intervening couple of months will give him time to cultivate a jazzy goatee beard.

South-east Asia

Magic circle law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has sent two senior partners to Hong Kong to beef up its Asian disputes practice. New York partner Lucy Reed is set to move in May with London partner Geoff Nicholas following in the summer.  

Meanwhile, US firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has moved into the far east with the opening of a Hong Kong base. Shearman & Sterling M&A partner Gregory Puff will lead the office along with Andrew Abernethy, a former partner at English firm Norton Rose. ‘It's hard to have a China practice without being in Hong Kong,’ Akin Gump international managing partner Rick Burdick told The Lawyer newspaper. ‘It's the New York of Asia, possibly the world.’

Offshore legal, fiduciary and administration service firm Applyby is set to expand into mainland China with an office in Shanghai set to open in April. Appleby’s global group managing partner, Michael O’Connell, commented: ‘As a business we feel that mainland China presents significant opportunities for us and for our clients. We already have a solid base in Hong Kong and we are keen to build on this.’

Cleveland-founded Squire Sanders – which since its 2010 merger with the UK’s Hammonds has operated under a Swiss Verin structure -- is also looking to make a move into Asia with the launch of a Singapore base to accompany a trio of hires from US firm Bryan Cave. Senior partner Ignatius Hwang will lead the new office where he will be joined by Mao Tong and Peter Chow. And in London the firm has expanded its global transport, shipping and logistics industry group by launching a maritime practice, which will be led by three partners: Graham Harris and Dharmendra Nair – who both join from the firm Thomas Cooper – and Linos Choo, who joins from DLA Piper.

South Asia

Indian law firm Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co has announced the capture of former Slaughter & May partner George Goulding as one of two outside consultants on its management committee. Mr Goulding retired from Slaughters in October last year, with Hong Kong corporate partner Lisa Chung taking up his role of Beijing head. He joins former Boston Consulting Group partner James Abraham in committing 40 days a year to the management meetings.

North America

George Seward, Honarary Life President of the International Bar Association and founding partner of New York and Washington law firm Seward & Kissel, has died at the age of 101. Current IBA Executive Director, Mark Ellis, said: ‘George Seward was responsible for moving the IBA into the modern age. His legacy is the creation of an organisation that has become the pre-eminent international legal association in the world.’

Marc Firestone has left his position as Kraft general counsel to move to Virginia-based tobacco giants Phillip Morris International. He will head the legal department in the wake of David Bernwick’s resignation.

Anglo-US firm SNR Denton has poached David Hryck from DLA Piper to be its new head of tax as part of a three-partner hire from the rival tax practice. David Mason will also make the switch to the SNR New York office while Jeffrey Korenblatt will be moving to Washington DC.

DLA Piper has moved to boost its numbers with the appointment of William Marcoux as a partner and head of the Anglo-US firm’s insurance sector transactions and regulation practice in New York. He joins from Manhattan-based rival global law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf, where he was co-head of the insurance sector group and also a member of that firm’s executive committee.

US President Barack Obama has nominated Jill Pryor to serve on the US Court of Appeals. A partner at Atlanta-based Bondurant Mixson & Elmore, she specialises in business litigation.

Texas-based global law firm network Lex Mundi has boosted its in-house offering by adding three lawyers to its client advisory council. They are: Philippe Legrez, general counsel at French tyre manufacturer  Michelin; Alberto Mora, vice president and general counsel at global confectionary business, Mars; and Christa Wessel, chief legal officer at Canada’s McCain Foods.

UK and Ireland

The managing director at the UK watchdog, the Financial Services Authority, has surprised market observers by heading for private practice instead of bidding for the top slot at the orgranisation’s successor.
Margaret Cole – who had spent seven years at the FSA – had been widely tipped to be looking to take over the new Financial Conduct Authority. But Ms Cole is not expected to be out of a job for long as London’s Legal Week newspaper forecast that she would trigger a scramble among leading firms to bag her services once she has finished a spell of gardening leave this August.

London-based Field Fisher Waterhouse has poached corporate partner Tim Bird from Wedlake Bell. An expert on energy and technology deals, he had been a partner at Wedlake since 2007, having also spent time with Dechert and the Deutsche Bank’s stockbroking team.

Also in England, Teacher Stern’s co-head of technology and communications, Bill Molloy, has joined the London office of Canadian law firm Fasken Martineau. Previously a partner at Blake Lapthorn, he will focus on copyright, trademark and licensing issues.

In Ireland, Justin McGettigan has joined the Dublin office of UK-based international law firm Eversheds from McCann FitzGerald. He has been appointed new local head of tax.

Europe

Czech law firm Kocián Šolc Balaštík has appointed Dagmar Dubecka as managing partner in a bid to fill the role previously held by Martin Šolk, one of KSB’s founders. Mr Šolk had been at the firm since 1990, but decided to stand down to focus on mergers and acquisitions work as well as his role at the IBA, where he is currently a candidate for the secretary general position.

Osborne Clarke Spain – the independent practice that is part of the alliance set up by UK top-50 practice Osborne Clarke – is dramatically boosting its presence in Madrid. The firm announced that it is adding 20 lawyers in the Spanish capital, having recruited five partners and 15 associates from national firm Lener. According to The Lawyer newspaper in London, the partners are David Sequera, Ángel García, Daniel Riopérez, Luis Castro and Rafael Montejo. Mr Montejo becomes managing partner of the Madrid office, having previously been Lener’s head of corporate and commercial and head of international.

Oceania

Maritime specialist practice Holman Fenwick Willan has boosted its Perth office with the addition to its partnership of Western Australia’s former Attorney General and environment minister Cheryl Edwardes. She joins HFW’s corporate, projects and finance practice from Australian mining giant Hancock Prospecting, where she was executive general manager overseeing external affairs, government relations and approvals.

Off shore

Michael Mello QC -- the founding partner of Bermuda law firm Mello Jones & Martin -- has been recruited by offshore giant Appleby, where he will join the firm’s private client and trusts practice. He is the last of three leading defectors from Mello Jones & Martin to announce a new home since they bailed out earlier this year. Saul Froomkin QC joined Bermuda firm ISIS Law, while another partner, Juliana Snelling, has reportedly launched a niche litigation partnership with barrister Paul Hershaw.