LONDON – 5 Jan. 2022 – In what has been reported as one of the largest non-merger moves among London law firms, a total of 18 litigation lawyers from Mishcon de Reya LLP (MDR) are joining Greenberg Traurig’s London office. The majority joined in November and December of 2021 with the final three joining this month. The wholesale move of the team creates an expanded litigation, regulatory, and white collar hub designed to meet the needs of clients with multidisciplinary requirements on a global scale.
“Mostly coming from London boutiques originally, we feel that the team knows how to protect clients’ interests in hostile environments and its members have considerable combined expertise,” said Richard A. Rosenbaum, Greenberg Traurig’s executive chairman. “Recognised in the directories and by their peers as leaders in their fields, Greenberg Traurig is now able to marshal a team which matches and, in many cases, exceeds what others in the market can bring to bear. The team has been handpicked, with many of the more junior members being recognised as rising stars of the future.”
Senior litigation lawyers Kathryn Garbett, Jo Rickards, Claire Broadbelt, Annabel Thomas, Martin Shobbrook, Hannah Blom-Cooper, and Matt Hancock joined in late 2021.
Rickards, who is chair of the London White Collar Defence & Investigations Practice, was the head of the White Collar Crime & Investigations Group at MDR. Garbett and Broadbelt co-chair the UK Civil Fraud & Business Disputes Practice in London. Garbett was a division head at MDR, overseeing the work of MDR’s Fraud Defence & Business Disputes Group, White Collar Crime & Investigations Group, and Tax Disputes & Investigations Group. Broadbelt was head of the Fraud Defence & Business Disputes Group where she worked alongside experienced partners Thomas, Shobbrook, and Blom-Cooper.
Hancock was a contentious regulatory specialist in the Finance & Banking Disputes Group and has already made the move to focus on Greenberg Traurig’s corporate clients regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and who need assistance in the face of regulatory investigations.
The group joins a 20-strong disputes team built by Masoud Zabeti and Mohammed Khamisa QC, who themselves joined Greenberg Traurig’s London office from MDR, together with Ian Bean and Katharine Bond, in 2020. The firm’s expanded London Litigation Practice will be made up of some 40 fee earners.
“This growth is based on impressive client instructions and the needs of clients who have migrated to our new home, each benefitting from Greenberg Traurig’s unique global platform,” said Zabeti, who leads the London Litigation Practice.
“I look forward to creating a first-class white collar team in London to complement the Greenberg Traurig teams around the world. It is necessary to co-counsel in complex corruption and fraud cases with cross jurisdictional issues and it is great to be able to call upon a global Greenberg Traurig team of nearly 100 white collar lawyers. We are developing the capability in the UK and expect to announce additional hires this year, because there has been a great deal of interest in joining from the London white collar community,” Rickards said.
“The new UK Civil Fraud & Business Disputes Group in London works closely with other related litigation teams across the firm’s 40 offices given that we work with corporations and individuals across a diverse range of sectors/industries, including retail, finance and investment, energy, and real estate. Our years of experience acting for claimants and defendants allow us to deftly advise clients and anticipate opponents’ strategies. As a team, we expect our practices to grow exponentially given our new access to markets in the United States and Middle East, as well as expanded reach in Europe and Asia,” Garbett and Broadbelt said in a joint statement.