O'Melveny & MyersFunds Heavyweight Among Further London O'Melveny Defections
Jonathan Blake is among the latest to have resigned from the firm, which remains in merger talks with A&O.
July 31, 2019 at 09:12 AM
3 minute read
Two lawyers have resigned from O'Melveny & Myers in London, the most recent in a flurry of departures this year.
Senior funds consultant Jonathan Blake has resigned from the firm along with finance and capital markets counsel Karen Ireland, according to one person with knowledge of the matter.
Ireland is set to join U.S. rival Akin Gump in September, reuniting with several former O'Melveny colleagues who made the same move earlier this year, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
Blake has stepped down from the firm after two years as a consultant. He joined the U.S. firm's London office in January 2017 from King & Wood Mallesons, where he was head of international funds.
Previously, he was senior partner at legacy SJ Berwin from 2006 to 2012.
Blake is one of the U.K.'s best-known private equity funds lawyers. In the late 1980s, he negotiated the guidelines for the use of limited partnerships as venture capital investment funds with the Inland Revenue and Department of Trade and Industry, paving the way for the use of limited partnerships in European fund structures.
Ireland joined O'Melveny in 2010 from Slaughter and May, where she had spent eight years as an associate.
She also spent time on secondment at Barclays and Shell. Her move to Akin Gump will see her reunite with several former colleagues, including ex-O'Melveny partners Daniel Quinn, Aleksander Bakic and John Daghlian, who moved across in June.
O'Melveny's funds team is led by Hong Kong based partner James Ford, and the firm recently promoted lawyer Alicja Biskupska-Haas to partner in the team.
Following the most recent exits from O'Melveny's London base, the outpost now comprises four partners, six counsel and one associate, according to the firm's website.
The moves come amid O'Melveny's merger discussions with Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy.
The firms have been in merger talks for more than a year, with the latest issues to be discussed prior to a merger including remuneration, pension liabilities, firm governance and working capital requirements.
If the merger goes through, it would create a firm with combined revenues of more than £2 billion and in excess of 3,000 lawyers.
An O'Melveny spokesperson said: "We wish Jonathan and Karen well."
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