US firm makes first lateral hire since 2008 in bid to boost City arm

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher has made a rare lateral hire in the City, bringing in a Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner.

The US law firm has hired Freshfields corporate partner Jeff Roberts – marking the firm's first lateral partner appointment since May 2008.

Roberts (pictured), who is the Freshfields relationship partner for Sara Lee, has resigned from the magic circle law firm but does not yet have a start date at Gibson Dunn.

He has been at Freshfields since 1988 and was promoted into the partnership in 1996, spending four years in the firm's Moscow office between 1995 and 1999.

His practice covers private equity, M&A, securities and joint venture mandates. Past mandates include advising market research company Taylor Nelson Sofres on its £2bn merger with German company GfK in 2008, as well as leading the London team advising Sara Lee on Unilever's €1.28bn (£1.12bn) bid for its personal care division in 2009.

Roberts will be the 20th partner in Gibson Dunn's City arm, with the office also housing 31 other fee-earners, including ex-Lord Chancellor Charles Falconer, who serves as a senior counsel.

The US firm brought in three lateral partners in London in 2008, including litigator Laurence Shore from Herbert Smith, who subsequently relocated to New York.

London office co-head Tom Budd told Legal Week: "Our London office has grown significantly in recent years. Jeff will further enhance our capabilities in several of our core practice areas, and will add to our mainstream English law corporate offering."

The most recent partner-level departures from Freshfields in the City came in October last year, when finance duo Maurice Allen and Mike Goetz left to launch a London office for Boston firm Ropes & Gray.

Gibson Dunn saw turnover climb by 4% to $995m (£645.8m) in 2009, while profits per equity partner grew by 1.6% to $1.9m (£1.2m).