Reed Smith plants flag in Singapore

• Reed Smith launched a corporate practice in Singapore, appointing Matt Gorman as a partner to lead the group. Gorman joined the firm from Stephenson Harwood, where he was head of the firm’s South East Asia corporate practice, advising both private and public companies on joint ventures, corporate restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, venture capital and initial public offerings.

• Ropes & Gray hired former Mayer Brown lawyer Matthew Posthuma as a partner in the firm's private investment funds practice in Chicago. Posthuma specializes in private investment fund formation in the United States and Latin America, with a focus on real estate funds.

• Ashurst appointed Thomas Sacher as a partner in its Munich corporate practice. Sacher will also become co-head of the corporate and mergers and aquisitions practice group, working on M&A, private equity and alternative investments. Prior to joining Ashurst, Sacher was a partner at German commercial law firm Beiten Burkhardt's Nuremburg office since 1992.

• Goodwin Procter added Jay Schifferli as a partner in the firm’s private equity group in Washington, DC. Schifferli joined from Kelley Drye & Warren, where he was chair of the private equity practice, focusing on mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, public and private securities offerings and compliance.

• Kirkland & Ellis added Michael Beinus as a partner in the tax practice group at the firm’s Los Angeles office. Beinus, who was formerly a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, focuses on a range of tax matters, including complex partnership transactions, real estate investment trusts, debt and equity offerings, restructurings, investment fund formations, and mergers and acquisitions.

• Steven Todrys joined the investment banking unit of Evercore as a senior advisor focused on transactional tax and structuring solutions. He previously was a partner with law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

• Simmons & Simmons opened a new office in Luxembourg, headed by partner Stéphane Ober, who joined the firm in November 2014. The office will service asset managers, investment funds and financial institutions, particularly in relation to private funds formation, corporate structuring, hedge funds, capital markets, banking and tax matters.

• Mergers and acquisitions lawyer Stephen Fraidin moved to Pershing Square Capital Management as vice chairman. Prior to joining the firm, Fraidin was a partner with Kirkland & Ellis and a partner at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, where he spent 38 years of his career.

• Kelley Drye & Warren added Michael Adelstein as a New York-based partner focused on alternative investments. Adelstein, who was previously with Greenberg Traurig, represents hedge funds, placement agents, companies, family offices and other private investment vehicles in the structuring, negotiation and development of private investment in public equity and registered direct transactions.

• Brown Rudnick hired Moris Mashali as a partner in its corporate and capital markets practices in London. Mashali formerly served as the founding chairman of risk management advisory firm RIMA Consulting Limited, focusing on general corporate transactions and working for high net worth families, hedge funds and businesses in the hospitality, real estate and technology sectors.

• Boies, Schiller & Flexner has added new partners Matthew Schwartz, Peter Skinner and John Zach in order to help launch a new “Global Investigations and White Collar Defense” practice area. All three join the firm from US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

• Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft appointed a team of seven lawyers led by partner Michael Liu to its Greater China practice, based in Hong Kong. The three partners and four counsel join from Latham & Watkins in Hong Kong, where they focused on such matters as public take-overs, private mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, IPOs, and regulatory and compliance matters under the Hong Kong Listing Rules and securities legislation.

• Boodle Hatfield has strengthened its private client and tax team with the appointment of Salpy Kouyoumjian, a former partner at Baker & McKenzie. Kouyoumjian focuses on advising ultra high-net-worth individuals, families and trustees in Russia and the Middle East.

• In related news, Dentons merged with Chinese law firm Dacheng. The new firm, to be branded Dacheng Dentons, will have more than 6,500 lawyers in more than 50 countries, one of the world’s largest. Current Dacheng director and founding partner Peng Xuefeng will be chairman of the global board and chairman of the global advisory committee of the new firm. Joe Andrew and Elliot Portnoy, currently the global chairman and global chief executive of Dentons respectively, will serve in those same roles at the new firm.

Know of any private fund lawyer career moves we might have missed? If so, email pfm reporter Katherine Bucaccio at katherine.b@peimedia.com.