London—Dentons has expanded its derivatives practice with the hire of two partners in London.

Luke Whitmore has been a partner since 2013. He predominantly advises clients on OTC derivatives, repo and securities lending, and has a particular focus on the prime brokerage and futures market. He also has extensive experience of delivering legal advice and projects using alternative legal solutions.

Yusuf Battiwala joins Dentons having been counsel at his previous firm. Having done stints in its Dubai, New York and Frankfurt offices, he has extensive experience in advising on a wide range of OTC derivatives, repo, securities lending and structured finance transactions, as well as regulatory developments affecting these markets. He has particular experience in advising on conventional and Shari’a-compliant derivatives transactions in emerging market jurisdictions.

Jeremy Cohen, Dentons' CEO for the UK and Middle East, said, ""We're delighted to welcome Luke and Yusuf to Dentons, significantly strengthening our banking and finance capabilities in the UK and Middle East region with their global expertise. Their hires represent a long term strategic aim to develop our derivatives practice, as well as to build on our structured finance and capital markets capabilities more generally.""

Paul Holland, head of Dentons' UK Banking and Finance practice, said, ""We have been looking for some time to expand and strengthen this area of our business and I am delighted that Luke and Yusuf are about to join us, working with Matthew Sapte who heads up our derivatives practice. It continues and complements the recent expansion to our capital markets and structured finance teams.""

Over the past few years, Dentons has built up its UK securitisation and structured finance practice with the hire of partners Ed Hickman, Peter Voisey and Martin Sharkey, as well as grown its debt capital markets practice with the recruitment of partners Nik Colbridge, Cameron Half and Nick Hayday. The Firm has also recently enhanced its corporate trustee capabilities with the addition of partner Kitty Lloyd.

Dentons' derivatives capabilities also saw global growth in 2018 with the arrival of partners Michael Huertas in Frankfurt, Julien Bacus in Paris, Tamer Amara in Moscow, and Alice Yurke in New York.