Kirtsen Neighbour and Stephanie Yonekura, Hogan Lovells

White & Case has continued expanding its London office with the hire of Norton Rose Fulbright energy partner Richard Hill. He previously led the energy project finance team at Norton Rose and advises governments, developers and corporates on procurement strategies and contracts, and investors and lenders on projects that are in development or operation.

Spanish firm Garrigues has strengthened its Portugal team with the hire of Tomás Pessanha to lead the corporate and M&A practice in Portugal, by bringing on board Tomás Pessanha as partner in charge of the corporate and M&A practice at the Oporto office. He joins from Portuguese firm PLMJ, where he started at in 2001 and became partner in 2007.

Akin Gump has bolstered its London funds practice with the hires of O'Melveny & Myers partners Daniel Quinn and Aleksander Bakic. The duo advise clients on private equity secondaries transactions, institutional investor representations and private equity fund formation. Bakic joined O'Melveny in 2012 from Macfarlanes, where he was an associate. Quinn, meanwhile, joined O'Melveny in 2005 and was made partner in the firm's 2013 partner promotions round.

Pinsent Masons has hired corporate financial services partner Naoise Harnett, who will join its Dublin office this summer. Harnett joins the firm from William Fry, where he made partner in the insurance department in 2017.

Kirkland & Ellis has added funds partner Andrew Shore to its London office. Shore joins from fellow U.S. firm Proskauer Rose, where he was promoted to partner in 2017. The news comes on the heels of Kirkland's 20-lawyer raid on Proskauer's team in Los Angeles.

Hogan Lovells has shaken up the leadership across several areas of its dispute resolution practice. Frankfurt partner Kerstin Neighbour will become head of employment and labour following the departure of New York-based Barbara Roth, who led the practice for eight years and has now become a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills. Neighbour has been at the firm for 16 years, currently leading the European employment practice, which she will continue to lead alongside her new role.

Hogan Lovells' changes also include various other appointments. New York partner Michael E. DeLarco will be part of Neighbour's team as head of employment and labour in the Americas; Washington partner E. Desmond Hogan will become the sole head of the commercial litigation practice across the Americas; New York partner Dennis Tracey will take up the newly created role of head of operations and finance; Los Angeles partner Stephanie Yonekura will become head of investigations, white collar and fraud in the Americas, working with Crispin Rapinet, the current practice area leader; and London partner Roberta Downey will become the sole head of the construction and engineering sub-practice.

Arthur Cox has appointed its first-ever female chairperson, promoting financial regulatory partner Orla O'Connor to the role. O'Connor will take up the position on May 1, succeeding Ciarán Bolger who is completing his six-year term and will be returning to full-time practice. O'Connor has previously served on the firm's management committee but will be the first woman to take up this role. She joined Arthur Cox as a trainee solicitor in 1992 and has been a partner since 2000.

Eversheds Sutherland has hired Fladgate head of real estate litigation Thekla Fellas as a partner. Eversheds said Fellas is joining Eversheds to lead a group specialising in telecoms code disputes, and has acted on a number of significant cases in the area, including the first three substantive decisions under the new code. Fellas headed the practice at Fladgate for six years prior to joining Eversheds, and has also been a partner at DAC Beachcroft.

Paul Hastings has launched an artificial intelligence practice group, appointing two partners as co-chairs. Privacy and cybersecurity partner Sarah Pearce and white-collar investigations and privacy and cybersecurity partner Robert Silvers will continue their current roles in the firm while heading up the new practice group.

Paul Hastings has also hired M&A infrastructure and energy partner Steven Bryan. Bryan joins from Hogan Lovells, where he was part of the leadership committee of the global corporate practice.

BLM has hired former Clyde & Co partner Sarah Drury as part of its london market specialty group. Drury spent five years at Clyde, where she worked in the firm's energy, engineering, marine and construction group until 2015. Since leaving Clyde, Drury has worked as a freelance lawyer.

DLA Piper has boosted its M&A offering in Brussels with a new partner hire for its corporate practice. Michael Heene will be joining the firm in May from Linklaters, where he is a managing associate in the magic circle firm's Belgium corporate team. Before Linklaters, Heene was in an in-house role on secondment as legal counsel for the Royal Bank of Scotland in Amsterdam.

DLA Piper has also named a new head of finance in its Ireland office, hiring banking and capital markets partner Conor Houlihan for the role. Houlihan joins from Dillon Eustace Solicitors after more than 20 years at the local Irish firm, where he has been partner since 2006 and also served as head of its banking and capital markets team.

Sidley Austin has boosted its securities and derivatives enforcement and regulatory practice, with the hire of regulatory and criminal investigations partner Sara George. George joins from Stephenson Harwood and prior to that served as a prosecutor for the Financial Services Authority (FSA). She is recognised for having brought landmark cases including the first criminal prosecution by the FSA against a director for misleading the market, and the first Listing Rule contravention.

German firm Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek has hired insurance and liability partner Julia Kathrin Degen to join the firm's liability and insurance law department in Cologne. Degan joins from Ince Gordon Dadds, and has previous experience working as in-house counsel in Siemens AG's corporate legal department.