Latham & Watkins Target More Law Firms To Boost Emerging Companies Practice

Latham & Watkins’ London office has continued its hiring spree, targeting two ‘mid-market’ law firms with new hires.

Legal Business report that Taylor Wessing has seen its head of technology, media and communications Mike Turner leave for the US firm alongside Bird & Bird’s corporate partner Shing Lo. Both hires, announced at the end of January were voted in by Latham’s partnership in early January and will join the firm over the next few weeks.

The loss of Turner will be felt by Taylor Wessing who have already lost a four partner team to Goodwin Procter only a few months ago.

‘We are the first law firm that has a compelling emerging companies and venture capital practice on the West Coast, East Coast, Europe and Asia,’ Latham’s London corporate co-chair Robbie McLaren told Legal Business. ‘On top of this, we have the ability to do M&A and equity capital transactions in these jurisdictions as well, and that’s what clients are looking for.’

Promoted to the partnership in 2016, McLaren was until this move the only City partner covering the tech space at the firm: ‘When we set out to refine our global strategy in this sector we thought: where are we underweight in this space? The answer was London.’

‘As a West Coast heritage firm we understand how [the emerging companies practice] works and the opportunities it offers. There is such a great opportunity in this space with the amount of money being raised by private companies that we thought it would make sense to hire two outstanding practitioners.’

He said that when the firm started scouting partners last summer, Turner and Lo were the two names at the top of the list.

LB reported Turner had joined Taylor Wessing from another UK tech-focused firm Osborne Clarke in 2013 and forged relationships with a number of tech companies both sides of the Atlantic, such as Farfetch.

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