Withers has reappointed its longstanding managing director, Margaret Robertson, for another three-year term, effective from the beginning of July. No other candidate was put forward so Robertson, who was appointed on 24 May, did not require the usual 75% majority vote from the partnership. Robertson became sole managing director in 2007. Before that she was head of litigation from 1992 before going on to become strategy partner in 2000.

Allen & Overy has hired DLA Piper intellectual property partner Krystyna Szczepanowska-Kozłowska to head the practice in Poland. She will be based in the firm's Warsaw office. He practice focuses on patent, trademark, copyright, competition and personal data protection law.

Hogan Lovells has recruited a team of three partners from Baker Botts to bolster its litigation, arbitration and employment practice. Maria Boyce, Jennifer Smith and Cristina Rodriguez will all join the firm's Houston office.

French firm Gide Loyrette Nouel has lost corporate partner Paul-Emmanuel Benachi to Ince & Co. The Frenchman, who is currently based in Shanghai, will be based both in Paris and China and will focus on the aviation, energy, shipping and insurance sectors.

DWF has appointed Simon Stuttaford, former general counsel and company secretary at nuclear engineer EnergySolutions, as a partner in the firm's national nuclear energy team. Based in Bristol, Stuttaford will help develop the firm's expertise across the energy sector both nationally and internationally.

Watson Farley & Williams has picked up Uria Menendez asset finance partner Alfredo Cabellos in Madrid. Cabellos advises clients on the financing and leasing of vessels, aircraft and rolling stock by utilising a variety of structures, from straight operating leases and loan facility agreements to structured finance products.

The firm has also appointed Guillaume Ansaloni as a partner in its Paris finance team. Ansaloni handles structured finance work, including project finance, and focuses on the infrastructure, energy and communications sectors. He joins from Paris firm De Gaulle Fleurance & Associes where he was a partner.

Nathan Willmott has been promoted to litigation and dispute resolution head at Berwin Leighton Paisner. Willmott replaced Jonathan Sacher, who now leads the firm's insurance sector group, on 1 June 2015.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has lost Milan counsel Leonardo Graffi, who is joining White & Case as a partner. The corporate and M&A partner is dual qualified in Italy and New York and will work on domestic and cross-border Italian M&A and private equity deals.

Freshfields has also lost counsel Zeid Hanania, who is joining Eversheds as a partner in Dubai. The corporate specialist was formerly at Allen & Overy, and before that at Morrison & Foerster in New York, adding US experience to Eversheds' Middle East team. Hanania acts on transactions across the MENA region, Southeast Asia and North America.

Irwin Mitchell has continued its string of hires into its business legal services (BLS) division with the appointment of Cozen O'Connor commercial litigation partner Donna Goldsworthy. Goldsworthy, who previously held roles at Fox Williams and Paul Hastings, is the ninth partner to join the firm's BLS team since the start of the year.

Funds partner Duncan Woollard is on his way from King & Wood Mallesons to Paul Hastings in London. Woollard will join the firm's corporate practice, specialising in the raising of investment funds in the private equity sector.

Another departure has hit Kirkland & Ellis as the firm has lost corporate partner James Howe to Proskauer Rose. The exit is on the back of three funds partners – Mark Mifsud, Kate Downey and Alexandra Conroy – leaving to follow former Kirkland senior partner Graham White to Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson in May.

Squire Patton Boggs has taken on Chicago and New York dispute resolution practitioner Luka Misetic as a partner in its New York office. The firm had acted as co-counsel with Misetic in several arbitrations, citing his contacts and experience in Central and Eastern Europe as one of the main reasons behind the hire. One of Misetic's most notable cases was in 2012, when he secured a full acquittal as lead defence counsel in the representation of Croatian general Ante Gotovina before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

Corporate partner Andrew Glaze has left SGH Martineau to join Squire Patton Boggs in Birmingham. Previously a director at legacy Wragge & Co, Glaze's appointment is a reaction to improving activity in the Midlands corporate market, according to his new firm. Glaze's appointment follows that of restructuring and insolvency partner Russell Hill, who joined Squire Patton Boggs last month from Eversheds.

Griffith & Partners has hired former Olswang CEO David Stewart as an international disputes partner. Stewart began the role at the start of June and is helping to build the firm's offshore work. He left Olswang in October 2014.

Addleshaw Goddard has recruited Norton Rose Fulbright counsel Oliver Carruthers as a partner in its infrastructure, projects and energy practice. Carruthers is a project and infrastructure finance specialist, who has worked on UK waste projects and deals in the African natural resources sector.

The firm has also hired real estate lawyer Louise Vun as a partner in its Dubai office. She was previously a counsel in Allen & Overy's Dubai office, where she handled matters such as real estate finance, joint ventures, restructurings and Shari'a-compliant real estate deals.

Litigation partner Paul Walsh has left DLA Piper to go to Hill Dickinson. The appointment of the Liverpool-based lawyer takes Hill Dickinson's commercial litigation team to 29. The head of Hill Dickinson's commercial litigation team, Geraldine Ryan, said Walsh's "expertise in managing legal risk and tackling disputes will further bolster the team's existing capabilities".

Brown Rudnick has hired two Paris partners into its restructuring team. Didier Bruere-Dawson, head of insolvency at de Gaulle Fleurance, and David Malamed, from August & Debouzy, will join a team that has acted on high-profile restructurings including Lehman Brothers, Northern Rock and The Co-op.

Brown Rudnick has also sealed the appointment of Clyde & Co head of corporate Philip Rogers, who joins the firm as head of emerging markets for corporate. Rogers will focus on complex cross-border M&A, IPOs and joint ventures.

O'Melveny & Myers has named European transactions head Jan Birtwell as the head of its London office. Birtwell was also the partner responsible for the firm's graduate recruitment programme in London. A tax partner by practice, Birtwell advises on the UK and international tax aspects of corporate finance and M&A transactions.

The firm has also regained financial services counsel Bimal Patel in Washington, who returns to the firm after a stint at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Patel will head the financial advisory and regulation practice at the office and will act on banking regulatory issues, including advising clients on resolution and recovery planning, consumer compliance, and investigations and enforcement actions.

Pinsent Masons has appointed a new project finance partner in its Paris office. Stephane Gasne has joined from the East African Development Bank, and is the first projects partner in Pinsents' Paris office out of a 150-lawyer projects team globally.

Gasne's primary area of focus at Pinsents will be the infrastructure, energy and public utilities market, building on his previous private experience at Gide Loyrette Nouel.

Simmons & Simmons has picked up Linklaters finance associate Omar Al-Ali, who is joining the firm's London office as a partner. Ali will be working closely with trade and commodity finance partner John Sayers and the commodities and trade finance team.

Ali's practice centres around international structured trade and commodity finance and financings into emerging markets.

Partner-only boutique gunnercooke has added to its ranks with four more senior lawyers. Former Fieldfisher lawyer Rebecca Kelly, HLW Keeble associate Deborah Niven, Hamers partner Simon Tomlinson and Irwin Mitchell's Tom Seabrook have all been appointed as partners at the firm. Earlier this year former DLA Piper private equity head and gunnercooke co-founder Darryl Cooke said the firm planned to double in size this year, from around 70 partners across its London and Manchester offices.

Reed Smith has revamped its support team leadership with the appointment of Berwin Leighton Paisner director of knowledge management Lucy Dillon, who joins the firm as chief knowledge officer. The firm has also hired pharmaceutical company Mylan's global IT transformation head, Steven Agnoli, to serve as chief information officer.

Gateley real estate partner Jim Garton has left the firm to join Hill Dickinson. The real estate finance specialist advised West Ham United in connection with its bid to take over the Olympic Stadium in Stratford following the London Olympic Games in 2012. He is understood to be the only partner to have left the firm since January, ahead of its float on the London Stock Exchange.