Clifford Chance white collar partner joins Ropes in boost for US firm's London office
Ropes makes key hire for City base with addition of Judith Seddon
January 15, 2018 at 07:24 AM
2 minute read
Ropes & Gray has hired white collar crime partner Judith Seddon from Clifford Chance (CC) as co-head of its London international risk practice.
Seddon joined the magic circle firm in 2008 as a director in its business crime and regulatory enforcement group, before being made up to partner in 2014.
She specialises in advising clients on UK and cross-border regulatory and criminal investigations and prosecutions, with a particular focus on the financial services sector.
In 2016, she was named as one of Legal Week's litigation rising stars, with her key cases to date including advising Barclays on the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation into alleged LIBOR manipulation, and representing individuals in relation to the SFO's investigation into accounting issues at Tesco.
In 2016, she also advised oil services company Unaoil on its SFO investgation into suspected offences of bribery, corruption and money laundering.
Fellow Ropes London international risk co-head Amanda Raad said: "After working alongside Judith for years, I have witnessed her substantive expertise and ability to exceed client expectations. She is the perfect fit to help drive forward our growing global financial crime and international risk practice."
Seddon's hire comes after a number of partner walkouts from Ropes' London base last year.
The firm saw eight City partners depart during 2017, including funds partners Anand Damodaran, Michelle Moran and Monica Gogna to Kirkland & Ellis, K&L Gates and Dechert respectively.
Following Seddon's arrival, Ropes' London office will consist of 29 partners, following the promotion of finance duo Anna Lawry and Alex Robb in its latest promotion round.
Legal Week revealed that following the flurry of partner exits from the firm last year, the firm made retention bonus offers to associates of up to $50,000 (£37,500) per person to prevent further exits.
According to former partners, roughly five associates in the London office were offered payments of about £20,000, while other former partners said several associates in the US and Hong Kong were offered up to $50,000 to stay.
The counter-offers were made by Ropes after a number of associates whose partners had moved on to other firms were approached to follow them.
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