Clifford Chance has appointed corporate partner Mo Al-Shukairy as its new regional managing partner for the Middle East. Al-Shukairy, who will begin his four year term on May 1, joined CC in London in 2002 and moved to Dubai in 2011. He assumes the role from Robin Abraham, who has been in the post since 2014 and will remain at the firm following the reshuffle.

Dentons has made another senior appointment following the election of new managing partners for Russia and France earlier this month. Jesus Varela has been appointed as Spain managing partner for a three-year term. Varela is also head of the Madrid real estate practice, and will continue in this role. Varela joined Dentons legacy firm Salans in 2011 from Linklaters, where he spent eight years, before which he was a senior associate at Clifford Chance. He replaces Jose Maria Buxeda, who has led the Spanish practice since Masons Buxeda Menchen, the firm he founded, was acquired by Dentons' legacy firm Salans in 2007. Buxeda will remain a partner and advise on M&A, private equity and dispute matters.

Dentons has also boosted its London and Paris ranks with new hires. In London, Luke Whitmore has joined from Fieldfisher, where he has been a partner since 2013. He advises primarily on OTC derivatives as well as repo and securities lending, with a particular focus on the prime brokerage and futures market. Also in London, Yusuf Battiwala has joined the firm from Allen & Overy's London office, where he served as counsel after working in the firm's Dubai, New York and Frankfurt offices. He has particular experience advising on conventional and Shariah-compliant derivatives transactions in emerging markets.

Dentons in Paris has hired Frederique de La Chapelle, an insurance and reinsurance partner from Eversheds Sutherland, as a partner. Chapelle is highly regarded for regulatory and litigation work in France and advises insurers, reinsurers and brokers.

Charles Russell Speechlys has hired commercial art partners Tim Maxwell and Rudy Capildeo from Boodle Hatfield. Maxwell, who was head of the art group at Boodle Hatfield, is an international commercial litigator and specialist in art matters. Capildeo specialises as a non-contentious commercial art lawyer, acting for clients on the sale and purchase of art as well as luxury asset finance. Both will join the firm on at the beginning of April.

DAC Beachcroft has hired Weightmans partner David Johnson for its claims solutions business in London. Johnson previously led the political and markets advisory practice at Weightmans, where he specialised in complex, large-loss and catastrophic injury cases.

DLA Piper has made its next move to bolster its Dublin office, hiring tax partner Maura Dineen from Irish firm Mason Hayes & Curran. This is the fifth partner hire for DLA Piper in Dublin since the start of 2019, after it hired four partners from top Irish firms in January. Dineen made partner at Mason Hayes in 2015, and in 2015 and 2016 was the national reporter for Ireland on the tax committee of the International Bar Association.

Duane Morris has added intellectual property partner John Benjamin to its London office. Benjamin joins the firm from DWF, where he led the firm's data protection and cybersecurity practice, as well as the London commercial and technology team. His practice focuses on intellectual property, technology and privacy law in dealing with transactional matters and litigation.

CMS has hired Dechert funds partner Ed Kingsbury. His expertise lies in investment funds and investment management arrangements, as well as private equity, venture capital and credit funds. He was previously an associate at Macfarlanes, where he qualified into the financial services team.