White & Case has boosted its commercial offering in London with the hire of a partner from top City independent Travers Smith. 

Dan Reavill has joined the 2,500-lawyer US firm after more than 23 years at Travers, where he was head of the technology and commercial transactions department. At White & Case he will be a partner in the firm’s global IP practice and global technology industry group. 

Yar Chaikovsky, head of White & Case’s global IP practice, said the firm was seeing growing demand from clients for advice on legal and commercial issues arising from the creation, protection, acquisition, licensing and commercial exploitation of technology and IP, as well as from tech companies as they move through stages of growth and investment.

“It’s essential we have top-rate intellectual property partners across our global offices to guide these clients,” he added. “Dan is a respected legal adviser who has worked with high-profile brands on high-value data, tech and online activities.”

At Travers, Reavill advised The Bank of England on procurement arrangements, Sequoia Capital on strategic IP matters and leading insurer Prudential on its GDPR compliance project and data protection issues, among other matters. He had led the firm’s tech sector group since launching it in 2007, according to his LinkedIn profile, the same year he made partner at the firm. 

His hire follows White & Case boosting its London IP offering last December with the hire of Michael Evans as a partner from Clifford Chance, where he had been a counsel. Since the start of last year, the firm has also added five IP and tech partners across Chicago, Washington DC and New York from rivals including Latham & Watkins, Orrick and A&O Shearman.

White & Case partner and vice chair Oliver Brettle, who is based in London, commented: “We continue to grow our global transactional practices and it’s essential that we have correspondingly strong tech and IP expertise to advise on the legal and commercial issues our clients in the tech and other industries face. Dan is a leading IP and technology transactions partner in London and will provide further credibility to our capabilities.”

Reavill’s departure from Travers comes hot on the heels of commercial, IP and tech partner Ben Chivers’ move earlier this month to Temple Bright, which operates a non-traditional fee-sharing model. 

Commenting on the exits, Travers said: “We wish both Dan and Ben all the best for their futures and thank them for their contributions to the firm.” 

In November, Mahesh Varia, head of Travers’ incentives and remuneration group, moved to A&O Shearman while Lucie Cawood, head of the private equity and financial sponsors group, retired from the firm at the end of September, the same month that former head of tax Simon Skinner defected to Latham & Watkins.

Going the other way, Travers boosted its infrastructure and funds practices with the hire of partners Ryan Ayrton from Watson Farley & Williams and Joel Grossmark, who joined from Blackstone Credit and Insurance.

Travers partner Louisa Chambers succeeded Reavill as head of the firm's tech and commercial transactions department at the start of this month.