Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has transferred a partner from New York to its Moscow office. David Gottlieb focuses his practice on M&A but also practices capital markets law. Gottlieb joins two other partners: Scott Senecal and Murat Akuyev.

Source:  www.nylj.com

Dechert has made up for the loss of one of its senior corporate lawyers from its Moscow office this last Tuesday, with the hiring of three associates and one counsel in Moscow.  Olga Watson, one of the three associates, will work from both the Moscow and London offices.  She joins from Chadbourne & Parke.  Oxana Peters, Timur Djabbarov, and Yuri Makhonin are all formally with Salans.  Dechert’s Moscow office now has 16 lawyers.

Source:  www.amlawdaily.typad.com

It would appear that Konstantin Konstantinov missed Chadbourne & Parke so much that he only lasted at Dechert a mere four months after jumping from the former to the latter recently.  Konstantinov was one of five partners who were originally believed to make the move.  Two partners, Jennifer Handz and Mikhail Rozenberg, changed their minds and stayed with Chadbourne.  Since Konstantinov’s change of heart, two of the group remain with Dechert.  Laura Brank and Shane DeBeer.

Source:  www.legalweek.com

Alexey Kondratchik has rejoined Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP as a partner in the firm’s Moscow office.  Kondratchik focuses on corporate law, joint ventures, corporate restructurings and financing, and mergers and acquisitions.

Source:  www.metrocorpcounsel.com

Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has launched a Moscow office with approximately 70 attorneys from Pepeliaev, Goltsblat & Partners (PGP), a top Russian firm. Andrey Goltsblat, previously co-managing partner of PGP, will run the new office, and is also its namesake. The attorney brought 8 partners along with him. It is estimated that Goltsblat (the office), will make a tenth of BLP’s overall revenue.

Source:  www.thelawyer.com

One cannot escape the consequences of a suffering economy. Although it was birthed in the United States, it has soon become a global problem. Law firms can attestify that changes had to be made to endure these difficult times. Practice areas, such as private equity and real estate have slowed down immensely. But the economy slump has not hit every practice area, nor market equally. Litigation has been doing well. Also, firms with Moscow offices, have reported that they are still very busy in Russia. But the luckiest are the New York firms that are working on the bank bailouts. Even in times like these, legal work continues and at times is even created by the downturn iteself.

Source: www.amlawydaily.typepad.com

Chadbourne & Parke boosts its Moscow office with the hires of Olga Koniuhova and Jeff Browne and the transfer of current partner Jennifer Handz. Handz moves from the London to the Moscow office to focus on bank restructuring and various other banking/finance matters. New to the firm, Olga Koniuhova, joins from PricewaterhouseCoopers in Moscow. Her vast experience in mergers and acquisitions and other corporate matters will greatly aid the office. She joins as counsel. Also new to the Chadbourne’s Moscow office is Jeff Browne, who joins as a senior banking associate. He comes from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

Source: www.marketwatch.com

Herbert Smith is joined by Ed Baring as partner. Previously with Allen & Overy, Baring will based in Herbert Smith’s Moscow office. Baring, who focuses on project finance, will join partners Alexander Currie and John Balsdon in the fiance department.

Source: www.thelawyer.com

White & Case has recruited two partners from McDermott, Will & Emery for its London capital markets practice. Andrew Croxford and Andrew Caunt advise on all aspects of equity capital market transactions. The firm is also transferring US-qualified securities partner Sven Krogius from Moscow to London. Other additions to the London office over the past year include corporate partner Phillip Broke and Clifford Chance funds partner Matthew Judd. White & Case’s London office employs around 250 attorneys, the largest number of any U.S. firm in the capital city.
Source: www.legalweek.com