Allen & Overy Recruits Hanoi Partner

By Tom Brennan All Articles 

The Asian Lawyer

December 28, 2012

Flag of Vietnam/clipart.com 2012

Allen & Overy has hired a partner to lead its Hanoi office.

Tran Anh Duc joins the Magic Circle firm from Vietnam International Law Firm, or VILAF, where he was managing partner since 2006.

He also will serve as co-head of Allen & Overy's banking and corporate practices in Vietnam along with country managing partner Dao Nguyen and partner Adam Moncrieff, both of whom work in Ho Chi Minh City.

Duc worked for White & Case and Clifford Chance in Vietnam prior to joining VILAF in 1999 as managing partner of the firm's Hanoi office, according to VILAF's website. He specializes in advising foreign investors doing business in the country, and has acted for clients such as private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and French bank BNP Paribas in the past. Duc also represents Vietnamese clients on debt and equity capital markets transactions.

Allen & Overy first launched in Vietnam in May, opening offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi and recruiting Nguyen from Mayer Brown JSM to lead the operation. Moncrieff recently relocated from Tokyo.

The firm's team in Vietnam now comprises 18 lawyers, with three partners including Duc.

With Hire of 15 Lawyers, Hinckley Allen Expansion Continues

In a climate where clients seek a wider range of expertise from the law firms they hire, along with the economies of scale that only a larger operation can provide, it's not at all unusual to see large chunks of one firm join forces with another.

Exhibit A: earlier this month, there were widespread reports in the Connecticut legal community that 15 lawyers at the Farmington firm of Levy & Droney are moving to the Hartford office of Providence, R.I.-based Hinckley Allen & Snyder, effective January 1.

The attorneys being absorbed by the regional firm, including name partners Coleman B. Levy and John F. Droney, will make the move to the Stilts Building in downtown Hartford. The remaining five Levy & Droney lawyers will be left to fend for themselves. Levy & Droney, a 38-year-old firm that has ranked in the top 25 in Connecticut in terms of annual gross revenues, will reportedly be dissolved in the process.

The move will boost the size of Hinckley Allen's Hartford office to about 35 lawyers. Hinckley Allen, which will have about 155 attorneys once the hirings take place, also has offices in Boston, Concord, N.H., and Albany, N.Y.

The firm entered the Connecticut market with a similar bulk hiring effort in 2008, when it acquired 25 lawyers from the now-defunct New Haven law firm of Tyler Cooper.

Marc A. Crisafulli, managing partner for Hinckley Allen, declined to discuss the most recent hiring deal. But he said the firm has been methodical in expanding its business plan in Connecticut, starting with the Tyler Cooper acquisitions five years ago. That entry into the Connecticut market, he said, was 13 years in the making.

"In Connecticut, like all of our markets, we're always looking to add good people to add to our culture and help us build a more successful firm for the future," Crisafulli said.

The firm's culture, he said, is not one based on growth just for the sake of growing, but rather one built on long-term sustainability. "We're looking for people who are interested in the collective practice of law."

Without discussing the Levy & Droney hires specifically, Crisafulli acknowledged making a decision to bring in lawyers from a single law firm can be a way to add clients, while gaining lawyers who share Hinckley Allen's vision. "For us, it generally starts with people who are known to us," he said. "Usually, someone in our firm has worked with them and has a good personal connection. When we get people that come from smaller firms, it's usually that they are entrepreneurial, they have great client relationships, but they can't provide all the types of services that address the needs of their clients."

For example, Crisafulli said, a smaller firm might have a corporate client who needs expertise in federal law governing pensions under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. "With ERISA, you can't have someone doing that part time," he said. "If you're a smaller firm, you're not going to have an expert on hand who can help that client. But a firm like ours can."

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Allen & Overy and India's Trilegal End Alliance

U.K. Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy and Indian law firm Trilegal have ended their alliance, citing the lack of progress towards liberalization of the Indian legal market.

The Indian legal market remains closed to foreign law firms, which are not even permitted to have offices in the country. At the time Allen & Overy and Delhi-based Trilegal began their relationship in early 2008, there was some hope that reforms permitting foreign firms to enter the market would soon be enacted.

At the beginning of 2009, Clifford Chance entered into a similar agreement with Mumbai-based AZB & Partners.

But over the last few years, momentum towards liberalization has cooled, due in no small part to vocal opposition within the Indian legal profession. Clifford Chance and AZB ended their referral arrangement at the beginning of last year, also pointing to the lack of progress towards a market opening.

Earlier this year, Allen & Overy sought to reinvigorate the liberalization debate by commissioning a survey showing strong support for a legal market opening among both Indian corporations and law firms.

In a statement announcing their split, Allen & Overy and Trilegal said "the lack of progress towards legal sector liberalisation in India has led both firms to conclude their existing arrangement is restricting their ability fully to exploit the growing opportunities in India."

Jonathan Brayne, the London-based head of Allen & Overy's India practice, stressed that the break was amicable. "We have the highest opinion of Trilegal and we look forward to continuing to work with them when the opportunity presents itself, but also to collaborating with other Indian law firms," he said.

"We believe our relationship with Allen & Overy has been of great benefit to both firms," said Trilegal senior partner Anand Prasad in a statement. "But both sides agree that, in the absence of liberalization, each firm stands a better chance of increasing its market share by broadening our options for collaboration in the market."

Allen & Overy Recruits N.Y. Partner Duo From Freshfields

Allen & Overy has secured the eye-catching hire of two New York energy and infrastructure partners from Magic Circle rival Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, in a rare move between top-tier U.K. firms in the U.S.

U.S. energy and infrastructure head Kent Rowey and fellow partner Dolly Mirchandani are both leaving Freshfields to join Allen & Overy's base in New York. Mirchandani is also Freshfields' global co-head of pro bono.

The hires for Allen & Overy mark an unusual move for a Magic Circle firm in the U.S., where the U.K.'s leading firms have to date generally built up their practices with hires from domestic outfits.

Rowey has been a partner at Freshfields since joining the firm in 1996 from U.S. firm Perkins Coie, while Mirchandani joined the firm in 2000 and made partner in 2005. Both partners focus on the finance side of the energy and infrastructure sector, advising lenders, public authorities, developers and investors on projects and transactions.

The hires will grow Allen & Overy's U.S. energy and infrastructure practice to around 30 lawyers, including nine partners. The firm is expecting to grow the team by a further 30 percent to 40 percent by the end of the year.

Allen & Overy U.S. managing partner Kevin O'Shea said: "Opportunities like this don't come around very often. The combination of our strategic focus on domestic energy & infrastructure and Kent & Dolly's reputation in this area makes for a very compelling proposition. The prospects for our energy and infrastructure practice are incredibly exciting."

Freshfields has around 30 partners across its two U.S. offices in New York and Washington, D.C.

In a statement, Freshfields said: "We thank Kent and Dolly for their efforts and contribution to the firm's success and we wish them all the best for the future."

The news comes on the back of another high-profile hire for Allen & Overy's U.S. practice, with senior U.S. Department of Justice antitrust lawyer John Terzaken joining the firm's Washington, D.C., office earlier this summer.

Terzaken, the DOJ's former director of criminal enforcement in its antitrust division, joined Allen & Overy's nine-partner Washington practice in August as a partner and head of its U.S. cartel defense practice.

Allen & Overy and India's Trilegal End Alliance

U.K. Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy and Indian law firm Trilegal have ended their alliance, citing the lack of progress towards liberalization of the Indian legal market.

The Indian legal market remains closed to foreign law firms, which are not even permitted to have offices in the country. At the time Allen & Overy and Delhi-based Trilegal began their relationship in early 2008, there was some hope that reforms permitting foreign firms to enter the market would soon be enacted.

At the beginning of 2009, Clifford Chance entered into a similar agreement with Mumbai-based AZB & Partners.

But over the last few years, momentum towards liberalization has cooled, due in no small part to vocal opposition within the Indian legal profession. Clifford Chance and AZB ended their referral arrangement at the beginning of last year, also pointing to the lack of progress towards a market opening.

Earlier this year, Allen & Overy sought to reinvigorate the liberalization debate by commissioning a survey showing strong support for a legal market opening among both Indian corporations and law firms.

In a statement announcing their split, Allen & Overy and Trilegal said "the lack of progress towards legal sector liberalisation in India has led both firms to conclude their existing arrangement is restricting their ability fully to exploit the growing opportunities in India."

Jonathan Brayne, the London-based head of Allen & Overy's India practice, stressed that the break was amicable. "We have the highest opinion of Trilegal and we look forward to continuing to work with them when the opportunity presents itself, but also to collaborating with other Indian law firms," he said.

"We believe our relationship with Allen & Overy has been of great benefit to both firms," said Trilegal senior partner Anand Prasad in a statement. "But both sides agree that, in the absence of liberalization, each firm stands a better chance of increasing its market share by broadening our options for collaboration in the market."

Allen & Overy Recruits N.Y. Partner Duo From Freshfields

Allen & Overy has secured the eye-catching hire of two New York energy and infrastructure partners from Magic Circle rival Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, in a rare move between top-tier U.K. firms in the U.S.

U.S. energy and infrastructure head Kent Rowey and fellow partner Dolly Mirchandani are both leaving Freshfields to join Allen & Overy's base in New York. Mirchandani is also Freshfields' global co-head of pro bono.

The hires for Allen & Overy mark an unusual move for a Magic Circle firm in the U.S., where the U.K.'s leading firms have to date generally built up their practices with hires from domestic outfits.

Rowey has been a partner at Freshfields since joining the firm in 1996 from U.S. firm Perkins Coie, while Mirchandani joined the firm in 2000 and made partner in 2005. Both partners focus on the finance side of the energy and infrastructure sector, advising lenders, public authorities, developers and investors on projects and transactions.

The hires will grow Allen & Overy's U.S. energy and infrastructure practice to around 30 lawyers, including nine partners. The firm is expecting to grow the team by a further 30 percent to 40 percent by the end of the year.

Allen & Overy U.S. managing partner Kevin O'Shea said: "Opportunities like this don't come around very often. The combination of our strategic focus on domestic energy & infrastructure and Kent & Dolly's reputation in this area makes for a very compelling proposition. The prospects for our energy and infrastructure practice are incredibly exciting."

Freshfields has around 30 partners across its two U.S. offices in New York and Washington, D.C.

In a statement, Freshfields said: "We thank Kent and Dolly for their efforts and contribution to the firm's success and we wish them all the best for the future."

The news comes on the back of another high-profile hire for Allen & Overy's U.S. practice, with senior U.S. Department of Justice antitrust lawyer John Terzaken joining the firm's Washington, D.C., office earlier this summer.

Terzaken, the DOJ's former director of criminal enforcement in its antitrust division, joined Allen & Overy's nine-partner Washington practice in August as a partner and head of its U.S. cartel defense practice.