Shearman & Sterling represented The Bank of Nova Scotia in connection with its registered offering of $1 billion aggregate principal amount of 2.5% senior notes due 2021 and $500 million aggregate principal amount of floating rate senior notes due 2021.

The Bank of Nova Scotia is Canada’s international bank and a leading financial services provider in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean and Central America, and parts of Asia, offering a broad range of advice, products and services to its approximately 23 million customers around the world.

Thomas Hey, a high-profile employment lawyer, has joined Bird & Bird as a partner in Düsseldorf, along with a team including three associates from Clifford Chance in Düsseldorf, Dr. Artur-Konrad Wypych, Leonie Isabelle Pfeufer and Hagen Sporleder as well as trainees and research assistants.

Hogan Lovells announces today that Christine Rodrigues has joined the firm as a partner in the Johannesburg finance practice. She joins from Norton Rose Fulbright, where she has served as a Director since 2013.

Rodrigues has over 15 years of experience in insurance and is well-known in the growing African insurance sector. Her focus on insurance has led to her advising many of the region’s largest insurance businesses, most recently on the liquidation of SaXum.

White & Case LLP has hired a mergers and acquisitions partner in London whose practice encompasses financial services and private equity among other sectors from Linklaters LLP.

Daniel Turgel joins White & Case’s global mergers and acquisitions practice on Jan. 22, and will advise clients on public and private M&A, joint ventures and broader corporate matters. He has clients in sectors including financial institutions, technology and real estate, White & Case said.

Winston & Strawn LLP today announced the addition of Uri Doron and Jared Manes, two corporate partners in New York. Uri and Jared join from Jenner & Block and focus their practices on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, with a particular focus on Nordic-based companies doing business in the United States.

Simmons & Simmons has announced the establishment of a new patent prosecution group, following the recruitment of Kevin Cordina, a patent attorney from CMS.

During his 11 years at Olswang (now CMS Law), Kevin worked with a wide range of clients from start-ups to multi-nationals, with a particular focus on technology, telecommunications and medical devices. Unusually, for a patent attorney, a large portion of his practice has been in contentious matters.

International law firm Pinsent Masons has enhanced its international arbitration (IA) expertise with the appointment of Jean-François Le Gal as partner in its Litigation, Regulatory & Tax team.

An experienced IA lawyer, Jean-François joins from Brown Rudnick, and will split his time across Pinsent Masons' London and Paris offices where he will join the firm's team of IA experts across the energy, construction and technology sectors. He will also spend some time in the Middle East.

Leading law firm Freeths LLP recently appointed a new partner to their Stoke office.

James Boulton joins the corporate team from Reed Smith in London with over 12 years' experience in domestic and cross border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, venture capital, private equity, corporate restructurings, and general company law matters.

Global law firm Clyde & Co has today announced the hiring of a leading ten lawyer insurance team in Miami.

Sina Bahadoran and Eric Hiller join Clyde & Co from Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP as partners and will be joined by their team of 10 lawyers and other legal support staff. They will bolster the firm's insurance practice in Miami, where Clyde & Co first opened in May 2016 following a merger with Thornton Davis Fein.

Global law firm White & Case LLP has advised Zynga Inc., a social game developer, on its agreement to acquire 80 percent of mobile game developer Small Giant Games for US$560 million. The transaction is expected to close effective as of January 1, 2019 and Zynga will purchase the remaining 20% of Small Giant over the next three years at valuations based on specified profitability goals.