Angus James Duncan of Hunton & Williams

What does a legal business reporter and editor do when presented with two Angus Duncans?

Write a story, of course.

The convoluted case of the Duncan duo began last Wednesday (17 January) when Hunton & Williams announced its hire of Angus Duncan, a structured finance and securitisation expert and former head of Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft's London office, from Winston & Strawn, a firm he joined last year.

That same day, Clyde & Co sealed the hire of of two insurance partners - including one named Angus Duncan -  from Mayer Brown, whose London office has experienced a recent exodus of partners.

According to the Solicitors Regulatory Authority, there are only two Angus Duncans registered to practise law in England and Wales – and they had changed firms on the same day. Surely this was a coordinated strike.

Alas, it was nothing of the sort, said Angus James Duncan, now of Hunton & Williams.

"It's a funny coincidence," said Duncan, who prior to joining his new firm, Winston & Strawn and Cadwalader, also spent a decade as a partner at Allen & Overy and more than five years as an associate at Slaughter and May.

While they've never met in person, Duncan said he once checked into a hotel in France and the staff thought he was Angus Neil Duncan, now of Clyde & Co.

"At least I think it was him," he joked.

At Hunton, Duncan will be only a five-minute walk away from Angus Neil Duncan's new home at Clydes. The latter Duncan, a former chair of Mayer Brown's London LGBT group, did not return a request for comment about his move or his namesake.

Having the same name can sometimes lead to confusion among clients, as well as erroneous gifts and phone calls. But Angus James Duncan said that aside from his one case of mistaken identity in France, he's had no such issues. It helps to have different practice areas.

For nearly 25 years, Duncan has handled complex structured finance transactions in a range of different asset classes, such as collateralised loan obligations and insurance-linked products. Recently, his practice has focused on representing new entrants to financial markets in the US and the UK.

While he was looking at a few potential new firms, Duncan said he was keen on joining an outfit with a collaborative atmosphere that also supported the work and clients that he has built within the past few decades.

"I wanted a firm that understood and knew what I did and with whom I shared common clients, which I think is really important when you're growing a [structured finance] business from a platform that is less well-known in London," Duncan said.

Hunton's strong connection to financial services giants like Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo made the firm an attractive place to develop his practice, he said.

The Richmond, Virginia-based Am Law 100 firm, which in recent months has reportedly been in merger talks with Addleshaw Goddard and the newly-formed Andrews Kurth Kenyon, first moved into London in 1999. Since then, Hunton has expanded its office in the city to about 20 lawyers.

"For US law firms in London, it's a challenge," said Duncan, who has spent the latter part of his career working for Am Law 100 firms in London. "You have to focus on where you can be competitive and not try and compete with the large English firms in every area they operate in, because they have a big head start."

Duncan noted that from his experience, US firms need to be careful about the areas they target in London and identify those places where they can be competitive, where clients recognise a firm name and are happy to work with that firm. Ideally, he added, one would also want a prospective client to have a relationship with the firm in the US as well.

"You need to have some buy-in from the mothership in the US as to what you're doing," Duncan said. "You need to have a support base there for your business."