Bloomberg Media Recruits a New Chief From the Atlantic

On Monday, Bloomberg will announce that Mr. Smith, the president of Atlantic Media, will be named chief executive of the Bloomberg Media Group. He will report to Daniel L. Doctoroff, chief executive of Bloomberg. Andrew Lack, who managed the media division for five years, will become chairman.

After joining The Atlantic in 2007, Mr. Smith developed a reputation as an aggressive promoter of digital media who was able to reconfigure a 156-year-old magazine into a genuine multiplatform property.

In a letter to the staff about Mr. Smith’s departure, David Bradley, the owner of Atlantic Media, credited Mr. Smith with bringing the company to profitability for the first time under his ownership; doubling revenue; and creating a number of successful digital start-ups, including The Atlantic Wire and Quartz.

His quick results at the Atlantic Media Company drew the attention of executives at Bloomberg, who began talking to him at the end of last year.

“We know that every part of media is being disrupted by technology, and we need someone who understands that,” Mr. Doctoroff said. “Justin can drive things forward here because he has an incredibly digital sensibility with a unique understanding of the confluence of journalism and multiple platforms.”

The move will give Mr. Smith significant scale and a connection with Bloomberg’s lucrative terminal business, which produces revenue that allows the company to invest aggressively in media properties. The company has had success in moving from a linear television business to a more diverse model of video distribution, while the acquisition of Businessweek gave Bloomberg an editorial cachet it historically lacked.

Even with those successes, the media division has long been treated as a marketing amenity for subscribers to the terminal business. Despite its recent growth, the media division has struggled to gain a consumer base for its properties, which include television, print, radio, mobile, events and digital media.

The company was heavily criticized several months ago after revelations that some of its reporters had used the Bloomberg terminals to gain access to data about its users, prompting Eric T. Schneiderman, attorney general of New York, to begin looking into the practice, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The company’s assets — its success, its size and a hard-driving business culture — might make bringing about change difficult. But Mr. Smith said the fit was a natural one.

“If you look at the entrepreneurial roots of this company and its history of market disruption and innovation, I think it is the best positioned media company there is,” he said. The theory that large companies cannot innovate, he said, “has not been historically true at Bloomberg.” He added, “This is a company where you can take big risks with longer horizons.”

Before joining Atlantic Media, Mr. Smith opened the American edition of the British newsmagazine The Week in 2001. Before that, he was head of corporate strategy for The Economist in London, Hong Kong and New York. He also founded Breaking Media, a collection of Web sites that includes Above the Law, Dealbreaker and Fashionista.

Mr. Smith has no experience in the television business and said he would work closely with Mr. Lack in that area. He said he was interested in creating new products, including ones aimed at the global market, while bringing additional digital muscle to Bloomberg’s existing businesses.

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, met Mr. Smith at one of Atlantic Media’s conferences and they became friends.

“How many people have really managed to be successful in digital media?” Mr. Schmidt said in a phone call. “Everyone has tried and few have been successful. Justin is one of them. He is moving very fast, but this is the next logical step. It’s a serious gain for Bloomberg.”

Simmons Recruits Partner for Singapore Launch

Simmons & Simmons has hired a new partner for a planned Singapore office.

Dan Marjanovic was previously a Sydney partner with Norton Rose, where he headed the firm's banking and finance practice in Australia.

London-based Simmons & Simmons is currently applying to open an office in Singapore. Marjanovic will initially join the firm's Hong Kong office and relocate once the Singaporean government approves the new office.

Qualified in the U.K. and in Australia, Marjanovic specializes in advising banks, sponsors and corporate borrowers on cross-border financings.

Marjanovic has previously worked in Singapore. He joined the Singapore office of now-defunct Coudert Brothers as a partner in 2004 and moved to DLA Piper's local office the following year. In 2006, he joined the Singapore office of Deacons Australia and subsequently relocated to Sydney; Deacons merged with Norton Rose in 2010.

Prior to moving to Singapore, Marjanovic was a partner in London with the former Denton Wilde Sapte.

Simmons & Simmons, which has more than 1,500 lawyers worldwide, says its Singapore office will focus on project finance and technology. The firm also has Asia offices in Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo.

DLA Piper Recruits Arbitration Co-Head in Singapore

By Tom Brennan All Articles 

The Asian Lawyer

January 11, 2013

DLA Piper has recruited a partner to lead an international arbitration practice out of its Singapore office.

Yu Jin Tay, formerly a counsel with Shearman & Sterling and head of that firm's Asia international arbitration practice, will serve as co-chair of DLA Piper's global international arbitration group with London partner Matthew Saunders and New York partner Claudia Salomon.

Tay joined Shearman's Singapore office in 2001. He worked closely with former partner John Savage, who left in 2010 to become Singapore managing partner and head of the Asia arbitration practice for King & Spalding.

Before joining Shearman, Tay worked as a military prosecutor and legal counsel to Singapore's Ministry of Defense. He also trained as a barrister with Fountain Court Chambers in London.

With the addition of Tay, DLA Piper will have 21 lawyers, including seven partners, in its Singapore office. The firm has 4,200 lawyers worldwide.

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.

King & Wood Mallesons Recruits Private Equity Chief From Baker & McKenzie

Baker & McKenzie's former Sydney-based private equity head is joining King & Wood Mallesons.

Mark McNamara, who was also the Australia corporate head for Baker & McKenzie, will lead the private equity practice for King & Wood Mallesons as well.

He is one of the best-known lawyers advising private equity shops on deals in Australia. McNamara's clients have included Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and CCMP Capital.

Last year, he advised U.K. private equity firm TDR Capital on its $689 million acquisition of Queensland-based Ausco Modular, a maker of portable buildings. McNamara last year also advised KKR on the $4 billion sale of its stake in Australian television network Seven Media Group to West Australian Newspapers Holdings Ltd.

McNamara has led Baker & McKenzie's global private equity group for three years. He joined Baker & McKenzie in 2000 after a stint in the London private equity group of Clifford Chance. He began his career as an associate at Clayton Utz.

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 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.