Cooley sign Cooley

Cooley has hired capital markets partner David Boles to its London office from U.S. rival Latham & Watkins.

Boles, who has been a partner at Latham since 2011, joined the firm as an associate in 2006 from Allen & Overy.

The move follows that of Boles' former capital markets colleague Claire Keast-Butler, who joined Cooley from Latham last March.

In 2018, Boles took a role advising on the €4.2 billion initial public offering of Siemens Healthineers on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

In a statement, Cooley's London managing partner Justin Stock said: "David's market-leading credentials and more than 15 years of experience make him a formidable addition to our elite capital markets practice."

A spokesperson for Latham said in a statement: "We thank David for his contributions to the firm and wish him all the best in his future endeavors."

The departure marks the latest Latham exit to a U.S. rival in recent months. In August, finance partner Ayesha Waheed joined Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, while in February, banking co-head Christopher Kandel left to join Morrison & Foerster.

However, the firm has also made several hires in London, including Mike Turner and Shing Lo, who were brought on board last week to bolster the firm's corporate technology offering, and Clifford Chance structured finance partner Steve Curtis in November.

Elsewhere, M&A partner Nozomi Oda left to join Morrison & Foerster in Tokyo in November. while two Milan-based Latham partners moved to White & Case in July of last year.