In and out

UK

King’s College London has appointed Professor David Caron as dean of the Dickson Poon School of Law. Professor Caron will take the post mid-2013 following a £20 million grant by Hong Kong luxury goods businessman Dickson Poon, which is part of a £40m project at the school.

New York law firm White & Case has boosted its global mining and metals industry group with the appointment of Rebecca Campbell as partner in the London office.
Ms Campbell brings nearly a decade of legal experience, joining from global resources company BHP Billiton, where she was in-house counsel responsible for acquisitions, dispositions and joint ventures in the northern hemisphere.

London law firm Howard Kennedy has snapped up an affordable housing team with the appointment of two partners from Devonshires. Susan Hall and Frances Leung follow shortly after ex-Devonshires senior partner Allan Hudson joined the firm last year.

Helena Derbyshire has joined New York law firm Skadden as of counsel in its London office. Ms Derbyshire’s arrival follows that of Stephanie Stein, who joined the firm's Paris office as of counsel in 2011 in a drive to develop Skadden's European employment law capabilities.

North America

Pittsburgh-based firm K&L Gates has added Mary Korby and Gregory Jackson as partners in its Dallas corporate and commercial disputes practices. Mergers and acquisitions specialist Ms Korby joins from Weil Gotshal & Manges, while Mr Jackson arrives from Texas firm Geary Porter & Donovan.

Canadian law firm Fasken Martineau has confirmed the recruitment of Ingrid VanderElst and David Judson for their Toronto office. Ms VanderElst joins Fasken Martineau as a partner and a registered trademark agent in the life sciences and intellectual property groups, while Mr Judson joins the corporate finance group

Philadelphia-headquartered law firm Duane Morris has announced that partners Chester Lee (New York) and George Kroculick (Philadelphia) have been named as co-chairmen of the firm-wide real estate group. The two partners succeed Marc Brookman at the top of the practice. The firm has promoted 10 associates from five practice groups to its partnership. They are located across seven offices and include from the trial practice group: Ryan Loosvelt (Las Vegas); Jeffrey Pollack (Philadelphia) and Jessica Singh (New York); from the corporate practice group: David Bernsohn and Douglas Howard (both in Baltimore); from the business reorganisation and financial restructuring practice group: Meagen Leary (San Francisco); from the employment, labour, benefits and immigration practice group: Joanna Varon in New York; from the intellectual property practice group: Christopher Kroon (Boston); Matthew Mousley (Philadelphia) and Laurie van Löben Sels (San Francisco and Silicon Valley).

Washington DC firm Akin Gump has promoted 11 lawyers to its partnership: Stacey Eisenstein, Bernd Janzen, Amanda Johnson and Raphael Prober in the headquarters office; Frederick Lee, Joshua Williams and Tony Feuerstein in New York; Barbara Niederkofler, who is based in both New York and London; Gabriel Procaccini in Houston; Michelle Reed in Dallas, and Carlos Bermudez in Los Angeles.

Ohio-founded law firm Squire Sanders has beefed up its regulatory practice with the appointment of global public procurement partner Steven Norris. Mr Norris was formally a partner and national head of regulated procurement at DLA Piper. He will take a leading role in expanding the firm’s global procurement practice, spending time in London and Washington DC.

Europe

White & Case strengthened its restructuring and insolvency capabilities with the appointment of Céline Domenget-Morin as a partner in its Paris office. Ms Domenget-Morin – who assisted Eurotunnel in its safeguard procedure -- will lead the restructuring and insolvency practice alongside partners Philippe Métais and Raphaël Richard.

London-based magic circle firm Linklaters announced the appointment of Pauline Debré as counsel and head of its intellectual property department in Paris. Ms Debré has extensive IP experience, in particular national and cross-border patent litigation, notably in the field of life sciences and telecommunications.

Helsinki-based law firm Dittmar & Indrenius has beefed up its tax and structuring practice with the appointment of Kai Holkeri as a partner. Mr Holkeri, who joined the firm in 2010, specialises in tax structuring of M&A and financing transactions, business models and incentive schemes. He has previously worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Finland and in Luxembourg

Romanian firm Musat & Asociatii has appointed three partners: Cleopatra Leahu, Silvia Sandu and Ileana Lucian.

New York firm Kramer Levin has promoted Dominique Penin to its partnership in Paris, continuing the growth of the firm’s restructuring and litigation and white collar crime practices. Mr Penin primarily handles banking, bankruptcy and white-collar criminal law. He also represents clients involved in civil litigation, particularly with regard to inheritance and family law issues.

Luxembourg law firm Bonn Steichen & Partners has promoted Linda Harroch to partner. Ms Harroch advises major international companies, private equity houses and real estate funds on fund structuring and formation, as well as on structuring and financing of international buy-out transactions, joint-ventures, corporate reorganisations, merger and acquisitions as well as corporate governance matters.

Bech-Bruun has expanded its partnership by four following the recruitment of three lateral hires in addition to one internal promotion. The Danish firm secured Torben Brøgger, Tina Braad and Per Bjerg Christensen from Holst Law Firm in Aarhus, and then promoted senior associate Michael Honoré, who specialises in state aid law, as well as competition and EU law, to the partnership. Bech-Bruun now has 78 partners.

Netherlands law firm Houthoff Buruma appointed Jacques Kröner and Jan Willem de Groot as partners, while Paul de Vries has been appointed as counsel. Mr Kröner specialises in corporate transactions, from mergers and acquisitions to management buyouts and private equity transactions. Mr de Groot is an expert in corporate litigation, focussing on transaction-related litigation, shareholders disputes, enterprise chamber proceedings and liability claims. Mr de Vries specialises in corporate law, M&A, joint ventures, corporate governance and shareholders' disputes.

Polish law firm Kochanski Zieba Rapala & Partners has added four partners:
Piotr Galuszynski and Jacek Czabanski (banking, finance and restructuring) as well as Dominik Solski (pharmaceutical and public procurement) join the firm, while Krzysztof Zieba (marketing, trade and distribution) has been promoted internally to the partnership.

International law firm Taylor Wessing has pulled off a significant coup with the appointment of two-time Slovakian Minister of Justice, Lucia Žitnanská, to its Slovakian office. Ms Žitnanská will be focusing on corporate, competition and insolvency law.

Transaction lawyer Johannes Piha has joined Finnish firm Attorneys at Law Borenius. Previously at Castrén & Snellman Attorneys, Mr Piha joins the firm as a partner along with Saara Paronen.

Asia

International arbitration lawyer Yu Jin Tay is to join the Singapore office of DLA Piper this month. Mr Tay will join DLA's Asia Pacific litigation and regulatory practice, linking with Matthew Saunders and Claudia Salomon as co-chairman of the firm's international arbitration practice.

French firm Lefèvre Pelletier & Associés has continued its expansion in Asia with the appointment of Nicolas Vanderchmitt – local partner of the Hong Kong office – as a full equity partner. A French qualified lawyer based in Hong Kong specialising in corporate and commercial law, Mr Vanderchmitt mainly advises French and foreign groups on mergers and acquisitions and cross border private equity transactions. He also assists Asian companies in connection with their investments in France.

Australasia

Global law firm K&L Gates has appointed Andrea Beatty as a corporate partner in the firm’s Sydney office – becoming the first new partner at the firm since its merger with local player Middletons. Ms Beatty focuses on regulatory and financial services matters including corporate advisory, credit regulation, payment systems, retail and privacy, and banking.

Global

Pittsburgh-based Reed Smith has announced the promotion of 22 partners throughout its offices worldwide, effective from 1 January: Ben Summerfield (London, commercial); Danielle Martin (London, real estate); Rene Lochmann (Munich, Finance); Simon Jones (Singapore, energy); Stephen Blazick (Philadelphia, tax); Marilyn Heffley (Philadelphia, finance); Margaret Jones (Philadelphia, corporate); Brad Rostolsky (Philadelphia, life sciences); David Bird (Pittsburgh, appellate group); Matthew Mohn (Pittsburgh, corporate); Courtney Murray (Pittsburgh, corporate); Leslie Ross (Pittsburgh, finance); Cory Falgowski (Wilmington, finance); Casey Laffey (New York, litigation); Harry Rimm (New York, litigation); John Scalzo (New York, finance); John McDonald (Princeton, employment); Gregory Jacobs (Washington DC, regulatory); Michael Lowell (Washington DC, regulatory); Eric Buhr (Los Angeles, life sciences); Christine Kohler (Los Angeles, employment) and Cristina Shea (San Francisco, insurance).

Ius Laboris, the world’s largest alliance of employment specialist law firms, has appointed Chris Engels as its chairman in a bid to drive global branding and broaden coverage in emerging markets, Mr Engels, the founding partner of specialist Belgian employment law firm Claeys & Engels, will head the alliance for the next two years.

Offshore

Law firm Appleby has rejigged its leadership team, including the appointment of Frances Woo as group chairman. Ms Woo succeeds Peter Bubenzer, who will be retiring from the group on 31 March, following a career at Appleby spanning more than 32 years. Cameron Adderley will also lead the corporate group -- which is one of the largest in the offshore world -- succeeding Judith Collis who has served as global practice head for seven years. Ms Collis will also retire from Appleby on 31 March, after 27 years with the group.