Proskauer hires Travers Smith fund formation head

Proskauer Rose has hired Robert Barry, the former head of Travers Smith’s Investment Funds Group, as a partner in its London office. Barry will head the investment funds practice in London, working with partner Mary Kuusisto who moved to London to launch the practice at the end of 2008.

Barry will work on fund formation and advising institutional investors on fund investments. He is currently on garden leave but will join the firm within a few weeks. He has been at Travers Smith since 2003.

Barry’s hire comes on the heels of three other additions to the fund formation team: partner Caroline Chabrerie and senior associate Christophe Baert, who formerly practiced at SJ Berwin, recently joined the firm’s Paris office. Senior associate Alisa Chhoa has also joined the London practice from Clifford Chance.

“We’ve really been looking for the right person to join the private investment funds group in London and really be a leader in that office,” said David Tegeler, co-head of the global practice.

The London office is a major focus for Proskauer right now, and Tegeler said there will likely be additional hires across practices in the coming months.

“Bob Barry is someone that we’ve worked with for a number of years, so he’s a known quantity for us. He’s somebody that we respect very much, and who has a very high quality of practice,” Tegeler said, adding that the hire is a “major coup”.