NEW YORK, Sept. 7, 2004 LAWFUEL – Best for law news, legal news, law, attorneys, legal research International law firm Debevoise &
Plimpton LLP is pleased to announce that two highly regarded English insurance
transactional lawyers, Jeremy Hill and Vivienne de Chermont, will be joining
the firm. Both lawyers have extensive experience in transactions in general
insurance, life assurance and consumer finance and have acted for a wide range
of clients in the London and European insurance markets, and at Lloyd’s. Both
are currently partners at Ashurst and will join Debevoise’s London office.
Mr. Hill will join Debevoise as a partner and together with Wolcott B.
Dunham, Jr. will be global co-head of the firm’s financial institutions group.
Ms. de Chermont will join Debevoise as International Counsel and will lead the
development of the firm’s English insurance practice. Mr. Dunham, ranked by
Chambers as the leading New York insurance practitioner, said, “Jeremy Hill
and Vivienne de Chermont are well-known for their extensive experience in
handling the most demanding financial sector M&A deals, IPOs and other
financial services transactions and regulatory matters. We are delighted that
these prominent English lawyers will be joining our American insurance
industry lawyers in London, and our large team in New York and around the
world, to establish the leading transatlantic insurance industry practice.”
Andrew L. Sommer, Managing Partner of the Debevoise London office, said,
“I have had the good fortune to work with Jeremy and Vivienne on complex
insurance deals. I have seen their expertise and commitment to client
interests, and I am very excited about their joining us in London.”
Mr. Hill said, “The opportunity to join a global insurance industry
practice of Debevoise’s calibre and to help in building the preeminent
transatlantic practice is a prospect that I am thrilled to be a part of.”
Mr. Hill is widely recognized as one of the leading corporate insurance
lawyers in the UK and has been highly ranked in the 2003-2004 edition of
Chambers UK: A Client’s Guide to the UK Legal Profession and in The Legal 500
UK Edition. He has extensive expertise in insurance/reinsurance and financial
institutions work, where his practice at Ashurst has focused since 1985,
including a period of secondment at Lloyd’s. Mr. Hill has been at Ashurst
since 1982, becoming an equity partner in 1992. He has handled matters for
English domestic insurance companies and intermediaries, international
financial services companies, and insurance/reinsurance intermediaries in the
UK and Europe. Mr. Hill has significant experience in M&A and equity capital
markets offerings, including three recent London-based IPOs.
Ms. de Chermont is also well known for her experience in mergers and
acquisitions, as well as joint ventures and commercial agreements in the
insurance and wider financial services sector, particularly in consumer
finance. She has been a partner at Ashurst since 2002. Prior to joining
Ashurst, Ms. de Chermont was Head of Legal at Abbey Life Assurance, and was
also a senior lawyer at Woolwich Building Society, having trained at a leading
London law firm. Her industry experience gives her invaluable insight into
the UK financial sector.
In the global insurance industry, Debevoise handles complex corporate
transactions, coverage litigation, class action litigation, reinsurance
arbitration and regulatory matters. The Debevoise financial institutions
group practices American, English, French, German, European and Russian law
and has an extensive practice in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The practice
has been ranked as one of the two top ranked insurance practices in New York
in the 2004 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.
In its corporate insurance practice, Debevoise represented AXA Financial in
its recently completed $1.5 billion acquisition of MONY Group and acted as
U.S. counsel to China Life in the largest IPO of 2003, which raised $3 billion
in December 2003.
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is a leading international law firm, representing
a wide range of clients around the world. We have offices in New York,
Washington, D.C., London, Paris, Frankfurt, Moscow, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
International transactions represent about half of the firm’s corporate
practice. The firm now has close to 600 lawyers, including approximately 100
lawyers in Europe.
