Allen & Overy welcomes David Walter as a partner in its Asia Pacific Restructuring and Recovery Group based in Sydney.

Corporate lawyer Dr. Kamyar Abrar (41) will join Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP’s Frankfurt office as a partner.

“Kamyar Abrar is one of the most prominent young corporate partners in the country,” says Georg Linde, who leads Willkie’s Frankfurt office. He has advised private equity clients including Lone Star, GHO, EQT and Advent, as well as corporate clients such as copper producer Aurubis and building materials distributor Stark Group, on their transactions in Germany.

In addition, he has advised on the antitrust aspects of corporate transactions.

Shoosmiths is making further strides into the Glasgow market– attracting DWF’s national head of employment, Michael McLaughlin.

Michael’s appointment represents further strategic expansion by the firm in Scotland, as he joins recent recruit banking partner Fiona Cameron and real estate partner Barry McKeown who opened the Glasgow location last year.

Michael McLaughlinBarry McKeown said this was a continued effort by the firm to expand the range of services it can offer via Glasgow, and more partner and senior appointments are to follow.

Global law firm Shearman & Sterling announces the appointment of Alex Wood as a Financial Restructuring and Insolvency partner in London. His addition further enhances the firm's strong global financial restructuring and insolvency capabilities.

Kirkland & Ellis is pleased to announce that Manas Chandrashekar has joined the Firm’s Hong Kong office as a partner in the Debt Finance Practice Group. Mr. Chandrashekar has extensive experience advising private equity sponsors on complex international leveraged and other types of structured financings across Asia.

Global law firm Goodwin announced the addition of Karen Ubell as partner in the firm’s Digital Currency + Blockchain Technology practice in the San Francisco office. Ubell represents investors and issuers in digital asset offerings, private financings and securities offerings, and advises startups and existing companies in the implementation and development of blockchain technologies and tokenization models.

Global law firm Hogan Lovells announced the addition of environmental litigator Tom Boer to the firm’s Environment and Natural Resources practice in San Francisco. Boer, who joins the firm from Hunton Andrews Kurth, spent nearly a decade prosecuting environmental cases for the government before entering private practice.

DLA Piper announced that John Gibson has joined the firm's Litigation and Regulatory practice as a partner in Los Angeles.

Gibson’s practice focuses on antitrust, commercial, healthcare and technology litigation. He has won high-profile trials and cases around the country for healthcare and high-tech companies, as well as professional sports teams and pro bono clients.

International law firm DAC Beachcroft is pleased to announce that leading dispute resolution lawyer Mercedes Romero has joined the firm in Madrid. She joins from Pérez-Llorca, where she was also a partner in Madrid and provisional Head of its Dispute Resolution team in Barcelona.

Mercedes has extensive experience advising clients across the financial, construction, engineering, corporate, energy, and telecommunications sectors. She has taken part in complex judicial and arbitral proceedings, both nationally and internationally, advising on all types of contractual disputes.