Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati has hired former Checkout.com GC and chief operating officer Joshua Kaplan as a partner in its London office as the Silicon Valley-based firm continues to grow its presence in the UK capital.

Kaplan’s arrival takes Wilson Sonsini’s London team up to 13 lawyers, following the addition of partner Stacy Kim from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe last year and more recently the relocation of Michael Labriola from the firm’s Washington DC office. Wilson Sonsini opened its London practice in Old Street in 2018 in the heart of the city’s tech industry, an area sometimes referred to as Silicon Roundabout.

Doug Clark, managing partner at Wilson Sonsini, said: “Josh’s fintech industry experience and entrepreneurial spirit, combined with his business and legal acumen, will benefit our firm’s clients, and because of Josh’s prior role, he knows our London team well.”

Kaplan was GC and COO at global payments company Checkout.com since 2017 and worked with Wilson Sonsini closely on Checkout’s Series A and B financings in 2019 and earlier this year. Prior to joining Checkout.com he spent two years as a director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, working in its global markets division, and three years as senior counsel at Credit Agricole, where he was head of regulatory affairs.

His last stint in private practice was at Schulte Roth & Zabel in New York, where he worked for a year before leaving in 2007 to join Deutsche Bank.

Daniel Glazer, founding partner of the firm’s London office, said: “Josh’s addition to our London office further demonstrates Wilson Sonsini’s commitment to supporting UK and European technology companies and investors – particularly as they look to compete and win in America. Josh’s in-house and industry expertise is attractive to the high-growth companies we represent, and the industries in which they do business.”

Kaplan joins the firm’s corporate practice and will focus on supporting UK and European fintech companies that are seeking to enter the US market and raise capital from US investors.

Kaplan said: “Fintech is a particularly dynamic industry and I am looking forward to working with companies and investors across the global fintech ecosystem as they develop new financial technologies to deliver value to the real economy.”  In September, Orrick hired technology transactions advisor Faraaz Samadi as a partner in London from Milbank, where he was an associate. 

In the same month, Hogan Lovells unveiled the latest cohort of fintech start-ups to be admitted to its London-based Global FinTech Mentor and Momentum Programme.