Latham & Watkins has hired OMERS Infrastructure’s former managing director for legal John Guccione as a partner in London, strengethening the firm’s infrastructure practice.

Guccione, a corporate lawyer with an infrastructure finance background, specialises in public utilities, energy and transport mandates. He brings with him experience gained at leading London and Toronto firms, as well as client insight in working alongside industry names such as Associated British Ports, Caruna, Ellevio, HS1, Scotia Gas Networks and Tank & Rast.

Stephen Kensell, Latham & Watkins’ office managing partner in London, said:  “He has deep connections within the European and global infrastructure community, and his arrival will significantly augment our resources in London and around the world.”

The dual-qualified Ontario/English solicitor worked at Seven Sisters law firm Torys in Toronto for six years, before moving to Magic Circle firm Linklaters in 2007, where he spent three years as a managing associate. 

Guccione joined Anglo-Canadian infrastructure firm Borealis—the infrastructure investment advisory and management arm of OMERS, the Canadian-based pension plan for Ontario’s municipal employees—in 2010. 

He became MD for legal at OMERS Infrastructure in 2015, where he advised on the legal aspects of managing global infrastructure investments, which Marc Jaffe, global chair of Latham & Watkins’ corporate department, called “one of the world’s preeminent infra investors.”

The move will add depth to Latham’s infrastructure practice, which had previously added a duo of finance partners in Conrad Andersen, who joined from Allen & Overy in 2018, and Steve Curtis, who joined from Clifford Chance in November last year.

David Walker, global vice-chair of Latham’s corporate department, said the arrival represented “another major step forward in our strategy to establish the leading integrated infrastructure practice globally and build out our private equity platform to cover complimentary asset classes.”

Both Kensell and Walker praised Guccione’s transactional and management expertise, while Jaffe called him “an outstanding leader,” saying that he would “complement our M&A, private equity, and finance capabilities,” whose skillset is a perfect fit for the firm’s practice.