Squire Patton Boggs (SPB) has hired a team of seven lawyers from UK rival Fieldfisher to beef up its environmental, safety and health (ESH) practice in Brussels. 

The group is led by partners Peter Sellar and Gerard McElwee, who join alongside director Manon Ombredane, a senior associate and four associates. 

The group significantly expands the firm’s ESH practice in Brussels, taking it to nine lawyers. The firm kickstarted the practice in the city in 2023 with the hire of Thomas DeLille, who specialises in EU regulatory and litigation matters relating to chemicals and ESG legislation, as a partner from Mayer Brown. 

Commenting on the group’s hire, Peter Gould, global head of the ESH practice, said: “With the regulatory context for clients highly technical and quite fluid, we’ve seen significant growth in international demand for expert chemicals regulatory advice, such as on the PFAS restriction and the REACH revision. In addition, there are the increasing ESG requirements. 

“Peter, Gerard and their team strengthen both our product regulatory expertise, from chemicals to medical and food law, and our contentious capabilities for EU-wide advocacy and court representation at the highest levels.”

Sellar brings more than 25 years’ experience as an EU regulatory law specialist. He focuses on the circular economy and sustainability, particularly EU product law, including general chemicals, biocides and pesticides, eco-design, electronic and electrical equipment, cosmetics, medical devices and medical products law. He has extensive experience of EU-wide advocacy campaigns and litigation before the Courts of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg. 

Sellar has joined SPB after nearly six years at Fieldfisher. Earlier he served as Référendaire at the CJEU and as head of competition and regulatory, insurance at Lloyds Banking Group in Edinburgh, among other roles. 

Meantime McElwee has joined after 11 years at Fieldfisher in Brussels, where he made partner in 2021. He advises on EU regulatory law, focusing on chemicals, the circular economy and sustainability, and general product compliance and liability. He brings expertise in chemical regulations, including REACH, biocides, pesticides, cosmetics, detergents and CLP, and alongside compliance matters and strategic risk management has extensive experience litigating before the ECJ, European agencies and national courts.

Jonathan Jones, SPB’s European managing partner, said the group’s hire established a fully-fledged chemicals, environmental and products team for the firm in the heart of Europe. 

“We currently have one of the leading environmental regulatory practices in the legal sector, with specialists in chemicals, public policy and ESG. This group hire takes our capabilities to a whole new level: greater strength to support clients in a wider range of industries, and advise them at any point in the product lifecycle – from manufacture, compliance and supply chain to sustainability and reporting,” Jones added. 

A Fieldfisher spokesperson said of the team’s move: “We’d like to thank Peter and Gerard for their contribution to Fieldfisher and wish them all the best for the future.”

The hire follows Cleveland, Ohio-headquartered SPB boosting its European offering last summer with the launch of an office in Geneva focused on shipping, trade and dispute resolution. 

The firm also opened in Amsterdam in 2023 with partners hired from Van Doorne and Taylor Wessing to target European private equity work, having set up shop in Dublin earlier in the year after recruiting cross-border M&A partner Dennis Agnew from Pinsent Masons.