Morrison snags three from Kirkland

• Morrison & Foerster hired three private equity partners from Kirkland & Ellis to work across the firm’s San Francisco and Palo Alto offices. Darío Avram and Patrick Huard join Morrison & Foerster’s private equity investments and buyouts group in San Francisco. Alex Kaufman joins the same team in the firm’s Palo Alto office. All three have significant expertise and relationships in the private equity space. In addition the firm hired Sara Terheggen who joins the firm’s corporate department from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. She specializes in corporate and private equity fund transactions.

• Mayer Brown appointed James West as a London-based partner in the firm’s corporate and securities practice. He joins the firm from Reed Smith, where he worked for over a year. Prior to this he spent eight years at Fried, Frank, Harris & Jacobson. West advises private equity firms, hedge funds, joint ventures, management teams and both institutional and minority investors, and regularly acts on both the buy and sell-side of transactions. West will work alongside Perry Yam, who joined Mayer Brown in February as head of private equity in London.

• Alessandra Murata joined Goodwin Procter as a partner in the law firm's Employee Retirement Income Security Act and executive compensation practice. She will be based in the firm’s Silicon Valley office. Murata joins Goodwin Procter from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom where she was counsel. In this role she advised corporations and management, including boards of directors and private equity sponsors on executive compensation and benefits issues arising through mergers and acquisitions, IPOs, private equity and leveraged buyout transactions.

• K&L Gates appointed Arturo Requenez II as partner in the firm’s investment management, private funds and corporate and private equity practices. He joins the firm from Foley & Lardner, where he served as chair of the investment management group and vice chair of the private equity and venture capital practice. Requenez has advised public and private companies, including investment funds, investment banks and corporate boards on a wide range of private equity, corporate, and international transactions spanning more than 75 countries throughout Europe, the Americas, and Asia.

• Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel hired Eitan Tabak as a corporate partner in the firm’s New York office. He joins from Morrison Cohen, where he worked as a partner in the firm’s corporate practice for over eight years. In his new role he will continue to advise private equity firms, funds and their portfolio companies in corporate and commercial transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, and equity and debt financings.

• Hogan Lovells expanded its Hong Kong practice with the hire of two capital markets partners. Stephen Peepels joins the firm from DLA Piper, where he headed the firm’s US capital markets and Hong Kong corporate teams for eight years. He specializes in debt and equity financing transactions as well as private equity and M&A transactions, where his markets extend across the Asia-Pacific region including Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, and Malaysia. He is also known for his significant experience in the Indian capital markets, having advised on several of India’s largest securities offerings. In addition, Sammy Li joins the firm from Paul Hastings, where he served as partner and chair of the firm’s Hong Kong office. He advises international and PRC investment banks as well as Chinese issuers on IPOs and secondary offerings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

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