Jones Day has strengthened its London restructuring team in the wake of last year's departure of two partners to Weil Gotshal & Manges, with the hire of Matthew French from Japanese investment bank Nomura.

French, who joined the US firm today (1 March), spent nearly three years at the bank, where he was global managing director for M&A and head of restructuring for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Prior to joining Nomura, French held roles as EMEA head of restructuring at Swiss investment giant UBS, and also served as a partner at legacy Lovells.

At Lovells he advised clients including Welcome Break and TXU on insolvency and restructuring issues. He has a particular focus on capital raisings, balance sheet restructurings, refinancing and related M&A activity.

He left Lovells in March 2008 after nearly 10 years with the firm to join UBS, leaving around one year later to join Nomura.

At Jones Day, French will work alongside a team of three London-based restructuring partners.

His hire comes around a year after restructuring partner Adam Plainer left the firm to join US rival Weil, with Paul Bromfield following him later last summer.

Jones Day has seen a number of departures over the last year including
London managing partner Russell Carmedy and private equity head Michael Nouril, who left to join US firm Proskauer Rose in April 2011.

One partner commented: "There has been a lot of upheaval over the past year, but management is committed to rebuilding London through a number of strategic hires."