CMS is delighted to welcome Bart-Adriaan de Ruijter, a specialist in (international) corporate litigation and arbitration, as a new partner. Bart-Adriaan joins from Kennedy Van der Laan.

Squire Patton Boggs has appointed banking, Islamic finance and financial services regulatory expert Ahmed Butt as a partner in its Financial Services Practice based in its Riyadh office. Ahmed joins from Simmons & Simmons, where he established that firm’s Riyadh presence, headed its Middle East banking practice and led its Saudi Arabia practice.

Schulte Roth & Zabel, a leading law firm serving the financial services industry, has announced the addition of Douglas S. Mintz as a partner and co-chair of the Business Reorganization Group. Mr. Mintz will be resident in the Washington, DC office. He was previously a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the premier provider of legal services to technology, life sciences, and growth enterprises worldwide, announced today that Justina “Tina” Sessions has joined the firm as a partner in the San Francisco office. She will be a member of the antitrust practice.

Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) is delighted to announce that highly regarded construction specialist Ryland Ash has joined the firm as a Partner in London. Prior to joining WFW, Ryland was Managing (and a named) Partner at construction and real estate boutique firm Silver Shemmings Ash LLP in the City of London.

Gowling WLG is pleased to welcome David Sunday as a partner in its Municipal Law Group. He will be based in the firm’s Waterloo Region office.

An LSO-Certified Specialist in Municipal Law: Land Use Planning & Development, David worked at Gowling WLG between 2007 and 2011 before going on to diversify his experience at one of Southern Ontario’s top firms.

Stephen Pritchett joins global legal business, DWF, as the Head of DWF Advocacy, a Connected Services business.

Stephen Pritchett is a barrister and an Accredited Commercial Mediator. He joins DWF Advocacy from 23 Essex Street Chambers. He was called to the Bar in 1989 having completed pupillage in traditional chancery chambers in both Lincoln's Inn and Liverpool and has maintained his practise in the North West region ever since.

DLA Piper has appointed Thierry Wonner as Head of Finance in its Luxembourg office.

Previously, Thierry worked as a Finance Manager in a fast-growing data centre operating in around ten countries across Europe, Africa and the Americas. There he was responsible for the consolidation of 40 entities under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and of the group financial reporting. He also led the implementation of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) tool and a treasury management software.

Charles Russell Speechlys is strengthening its restructuring and insolvency offering with the hire of Dimitri Sonier into its Paris office.

Dimitri is a restructuring and insolvency specialist with over 20 years of experience advising on insolvency proceedings, debt restructuring on a voluntary basis and company turnaround and recovery issues, affecting debtors, shareholders and creditors.

He also regularly works with companies as well as individuals, in the context of commercial and banking litigation or potential liability cases.

Global, sector-focused law firm HFW has boosted its market-leading shipping practice with the hire of senior partner Paolo Ghirardani.

Paolo joins HFW's London office on 2 November from Stephenson Harwood, where he had been a partner for almost 30 years, including 15 years as the head of its global Marine and International Trade practice. Paolo spent the first seven years of his career at HFW, having joined as a trainee in 1983.

Andrew Chamberlain, Head of Admiralty and Crisis Management, HFW: