White & Case is making a major expansion of its London-based European infrastructure practice with the recruitment of a rival team from fellow US law rm Shearman & Sterling.
Tim Sheddick and Katie Hicks (pictured) have joined White & Case as partners and will work alongside Caroline Sherrell, Sandra Rafferty and Simon Caridia, the law rm announced on Tuesday (13 April).
Their move comes after they both joined Shearman & Sterling from Baker McKenzie at the same time just over two years ago, to lead a push into European infrastructure.
A source close to the process said that the rest of Shearman’s London-based infrastructure team, including associate Tom Pound, is also moving to White & Case. White & Case and Shearman & Sterling did not respond to requests for comment. “It made sense for the two teams to join forces to create a major infrastructure team instead of always competing with
each other,” the source said.
Sheddick spent nearly 22 years at Baker McKenzie, which he joined as an associate in 1999.
Transactions he has worked on over the years include the takeover of Denmark’s biggest telecom company TDC by a group led my Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) in 2018 and Macquarie’s sale of a 26.3% stake in Thames Water to Borealis Infrastructure (now OMERS) and Wren House the previous year.
Hicks was at Baker McKenzie for just over a year, having previously worked at Clifford Chance. At Shearman and Sterling she worked on major transactions including the renancing of IFM-backed liquid storage business VTTI last year and of JP Morgan’s rolling stock business Beacon Rail the previous year.
“Their addition will position White & Case as one of the preeminent European infrastructure M&A/nance practices,” John Reiss, head of the law rm’s global M&A practice, said of Hicks and Sheddick joining the team.
Their recruitment comes after White & Case in 2019 hired infrastructure nance specialist Caridia from Herbert Smith Freehills and infrastructure M&A -focused Sandra Rafferty from CMS last year.
Sherrell has been at White & Case since 2015, having previously been at Clifford Chance for nearly 10 years, a period that overlapped with Hicks’ time there.