McDermott hires head of UK healthcare

Hamid Yunis has joined law firm McDermott Will & Emery to head up its UK healthcare practice.

Yunis joins from Taylor Wessing, where he spent fourteen years in a variety of roles including as head of the firm’s Middle East practice, head of the Islamic finance group and most recently as head of healthcare. Before Taylor Wessing, Yunis was a partner at Andersen.

“We are thrilled to welcome Hamid to the McDermott health team. His arrival marks a new milestone in the development of our healthcare practice internationally,” Stephen Bernstein, global chair of the firm’s health industry practice group.

The firm said Yunis will be responsible for leading and developing its UK healthcare practice and client base across Europe and globally. His experience includes acting for private hospital operator Circle Health, part-owned by firms including Balderton Capital, Lansdowne Partners and BlackRock.

The hire comes after McDermott said earlier this year that it wanted to build on the success of its US healthcare practice. Its clients include MTS Health Investors, which McDermott advised on its recapitalisation of outsourced revenue cycle management specialist Avadyne Health in April this year; New MainStream Capital, which acquired Constellation Behavioral Health in May and HIG Capital, owner of injectable medicine provider Soleo Health.

In 2014 McDermott advised on the $335 million acquisition by US health insurance giant Universal Health Services of UK mental health facilities operator Cygnet Health Care.