That 2020 was a difficult year goes without saying. As the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe, many firms battened down the hatches, freezing hiring processes and in some cases even shrinking staff headcount. But while the pandemic caused some firms to hit the pause button, other showed no signs of slowing down when it came to high-profile appointments. In fact despite a notably subdued year, there have been a number of stand-out hires. 2020 saw unusual churn in the Slaughter and May partnership for instance, while rare laterals were unveiled at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Jones Day. But perhaps at the forefront was the ongoing battle for talent between the U.S. firms and their U.K. counterparts, which saw exits from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Allen & Overy among others. Here are the biggest hires of the year: Bruce Embley

Bruce Embley.

➤➤ Moved from: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer ➤➤ To: Skadden, Arps, Meagher & Flom Skadden became the latest U.S. firm to make inroads into Freshfields' M&A practice when it poached the firm's global co-head of M&A, Bruce Embley, in September. The move was reminiscent of Adrian Maguire's exit to Kirkland & Ellis in 2019, and private equity heavyweight David Higgins the year before that. At the time, people with knowledge of the hire said that Embley would be on an annual package of more that $5 million.   Gayathri Kamalanathan

Slaughter and May.

➤➤ Moving from: Danske Bank ➤➤ To: Slaughter and May Slaughter and May unveiled an incredibly rare partner-level hire in November this year - in what is only the firm's fifth ever to date. Gayathri Kamalanathan is set to join the firm in April 2021 from Danske Bank in Copenhagen, where she is currently group head of litigation and enforcement. Kamalanathan also previously worked as head of litigation at Deutsche Bank and was formerly an associate at Freshfields.   Susanna Charlwood

Susanna Charlwood.

➤➤ Moving from: Shearman & Sterling ➤➤ To: Allen & Overy In its only London lateral hire of the year so far, A&O announced it was adding litigation partner Susanna Charlwood in November. It marks a return to origins for Charlwood, who originally trained at A&O before joining Shearman as a counsel in 2013. She later made partner at the U.S. outfit in 2016.   Richard de Carle

Richard De Carle

➤➤ Moved from: Slaughter and May ➤➤ To: Ashurst In a major coup for the firm, Ashurst nabbed Slaughter and May corporate restructuring & insolvency partner, Richard de Carle, in March this year. De Carle had been a Slaughters lifer, first joining the firm in 1983 and making partner 10 years later. In fact, he was the second partner to exit in the space of a week after Susannah Mackay left the firm to return to Australia, where she joined Gilbert + Tobin - a blue moon event for a firm that hardly ever loses or indeed hires partners.   Michelle Bradfield ➤➤ Moving from: Dechert ➤➤ To: Jones Day It's first - and to date, only - London lateral hire of 2020, Jones Day announced it had hired Dechert international arbitration partner Michelle Bradfield in November. Bradfield joins the firm after just a year at Dechert, having moved from Dentons where she made partner in 2013.   Antonio Bavasso

Antonio Bavasso

➤➤ Moving from: Allen & Overy ➤➤ To: Simpson Thacher & Bartlett Coming in right at the end of the year, Simpson Thacher became the latest U.S. firm to make forays into A&O, this time hiring away global co-head of the firm's antitrust practice, Antonio Bavasso in December. Already this year, Simpson Thacher had successfully targeted Clifford Chance in the form of regulatory partner Owen Lysak and Linklaters in the form of Yash Rupal.   Erik Dahl and Christian Iwasko

Erik Dahl

➤➤ Moved from: Sidley Austin ➤➤ To: Goodwin The two private equity heavyweights became missing in action when they abruptly left Sidley Austin in June this year, only to resurface along with other Sidley team members at Goodwin in September. Based in Munich, Dahl was Sidley's global private equity co-leader while London-based Iwasko was co-head of European corporate and private equity. Upon moving to Goodwin, they were joined by private equity partners Sava Savov and Michelle Tong, and senior counsel John Van De North.   Justin Michaelson

Justin Michaelson

➤➤ Moved from: Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson ➤➤ To: Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan Coming off the back of solid financial results for its London base at the start of the year, Quinn Emanuel boosted its U.K. operation with the hire of litigation partner Justin Michaelson from Fried Frank in August. A solicitor advocate who also sits as an arbitrator, Michaelson had been at his previous firm for eight years before the latest move.   Jonathan Brownson and Jake Keaveny

Jonathan Brownson and Jake Keaveny

➤➤ Moved from: Allen & Overy ➤➤ To: Cahill Gordon & Reindel Cahill's historically small London outpost grew substantially in 2020, with the hire of A&O's leveraged finance head Jonathan Brownson and U.S. capital markets partner Jake Keaveny. Brownson himself had been at A&O for over two decades, and it later emerged that Cahill had won-out an aggressive bidding war for the partner against Shearman & Sterling, settling on an annual package of around $6.9 million. Later in the year, Cahill returned to A&O to pick up the firm's direct lending co-leader and newly-promoted partner Joydeep Choudhuri.   Ed Harris, Leanne Moezi and Adam Brown

Ed Harris, Adam Brown and Leanne Moezi

➤➤ Moved from: Paul Hastings ➤➤ To: Hogan Lovells There and back again: the Hogan Lovells trio first made headlines last year when they exited the firm to join Paul Hastings. Fast forward 11 months to June and all three returned to Hogan Lovells. According to multiple people with knowledge of the situation, the reason for the return related to a conflict over a private equity client relationship between Harris and another Paul Hastings partner.   Tom Alabaster

Tom Alabaster

➤➤ Moved from: Linklaters ➤➤ To: Ropes & Gray Another Linklaters exit, in May Ropes & Gray hired in asset management partner Tom Alabaster to be its new head of Europe, Middle East and Africa funds. Alabaster had been a partner at Linklaters for three years and spent another three as a partner at Latham & Watkins, where he was co-head of investment funds.   Paul Dolman

Paul Dolman

➤➤ Moved from: Travers Smith ➤➤ To: Latham & Watkins A Travers Smith 'lifer' having been at the firm for 22 years, Dolman left his role as co-head of corporate and head of private equity to join elite U.S. operation Latham & Watkins in December. His departure marked the latest London hire by a U.S.-based law firm from a U.K. rival.   |

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