Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP is pleased to announce that A. Todd Brown, co-head of the firm’s commercial litigation group, has been appointed managing partner of the firm’s Charlotte office.

Brown’s 30-year practice focuses on complex commercial litigation and dispute resolution. He has litigated complex employment matters involving executive-level exposure under Title VII, the Fair Labor Standards Act and ERISA, as well as sexual harassment and wrongful discharge cases.

Christian Mammen, D.Phil., has joined Womble Bond Dickinson’s Silicon Valley office, and the news is generating headlines the national and California legal media.

Dr. Mammen tells The Recorder that Womble Bond Dickinson has been “on an incredible growth trajectory over the past year and a half or so, focused heavy on IP. I am really excited to be joining that platform.” He noted the firm’s recent additions of IP partners Brent Babcock in Orange County and Jeff Whittle in Houston.

Shoosmiths has expanded its real estate offering with the strategic appointment of partner, Mehar Patel, who re-joins the Solent office after a number of years in-house at one of the south’s leading fintech companies.

Dentons is pleased to announce that John Cusano has joined the Firm as a partner in our Litigation and Dispute Resolution and Regulatory groups.

Based in Calgary, John’s practice will focus primarily on the financial services sector where he specializes in both retail and commercial matters, and has worked on behalf of large financial institutions. He has experience in successfully defending organizations against fraud, breach of contract, negligence, and other matters where litigation and risk are involved.

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.

Charles Russell Speechlys is expanding its Art law practice with the hire as partners of Tim Maxwell and Rudy Capildeo, both recognised specialists in the Art world.

James Carter, Managing Partner, Charles Russell Speechlys, said:

“Art is an increasingly important asset class for our international clients, and with offices in all of the world’s Art centres outside of the U.S., we are ideally positioned to serve them.

DLA Piper has advised the listed Swedish company NCAB Group AB in connection with their purchase of the Danish company Multiprint A/S.

NCAB Group is based in Sweden and is one of the world’s largest suppliers of printed circuit boards. Multiprint is one of Denmark’s leading suppliers of PCB.

The transaction was brought to the notice of the public via Nasdaq in Stockholm on 21 February.

The DLA Piper team included Jens Krogh Petersen, Anders Kaasgaard and Anna Christine Krøger-Petersen.

DWF Italy has advised GILDEMEISTER energy solutions GmbH, a manufacturer of machine tools and provider of integrated technology and automation solutions, in building the world's first utility scale solar project on a 330ha area in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia.

The project, which will be connected to the Mongolian power grid, boasts a performance of 30 MW and will produce 57,000 MWh a year. This will provide 27000 homes in the neighbouring city, Sainshand, with renewable energy and reduce CO² emissions compared to the homes being powered by conventional energy methods.

Freshfields advises Saputo Inc. on the recommended cash acquisition of Dairy Crest Group plc
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (‘Freshfields’) is advising Saputo Inc (‘Saputo’) on its recommended all-cash offer for Dairy Crest Group plc (‘Dairy Crest’) listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Slaughter and May is acting for NSF in relation to its all-share takeover offer for Provident to create a leading UK non-standard finance provider with strong positions in credit cards, home credit, branch-based lending and guarantor loans.