KWM appoints former Aussie chair as new EUME managing partner
King & Wood Mallesons has announced that Tim Bednall, Joint Global Co-ordinator of KWM’s Corporate, M&A and Securities practice, has been appointed as its new managing partner for the EUME region.
Bednall joined the legacy Mallesons in 2004 and was chairman of the Australian practice from 2010 to 2012, overseeing the combination with King & Wood. He then became managing partner of the firm’s M&A and tax practices from 2013 to 2014 before relocating to London.
He has advised a number of leading companies in major M&A transactions (including Medibank Private, Brambles, BG Group, Telstra, Alinta Energy, Challenger, ING Real Estate, Glencore / Xstrata, ASX, Stockland and Westpac).
Ince Law Alliance makes multiple appointments to Singapore team
The alliance between Ince & Co Singapore and Incisive Law has made a number of key appointments to broaden the experience of its city-state team.
With immediate effect, Edgar Chin becomes joint managing director with Bill Ricquier, having been with Incisive Law since 2014. Felicia Tan also joins the board as a director; she was previously with Allen & Gledhill.
Moses Lin joins the litigation team from Hill Dickinson and there are two junior associate appointments; Justin Seet and Samantha Ch’ng.
US law firm mergers slower in third quarter
Law firm combinations in the US have slowed in the third quarter of 2016 following a highly active first half of the year.
Data from Altman Weil shows that there were 12 mergers announced between July and September with the largest deals involving US global firm’s acquisitions of Canadian firms.
Norton Rose Fulbright’s combination with Vancouver firm Bull Housser and
DLA Piper’s acquisition of Dimock Stratton are currently underway but most of the US combinations involve firms with fewer than 20 lawyers.
Altman Weil principal Tom Clay says that the slowdown may be due to the finite number of desirable acquisitions.
Goodwin grows international practice with team hire
A team from Shearman & Sterling has joined international firm Goodwin in Paris. Partners Arnaud Fromion and Frédéric Guilloux together with several other lawyers will make the move in mid-October.
The Paris office opened in July 2016 as part of a burgeoning international practice for the US-based firm which includes a Hong Kong office.
