Washington, D.C. Photo: Shutterstock

Allen & Overy has added the co-chairman of Jenner & Block's international arbitration practice, U.S. State Department alum Patrick Pearsall, as the Magic Circle firm looks to build up its own practice on this side of the Atlantic.

Washington, D.C.-based Pearsall, who was also the first-ever chairman of Jenner's public international law practice, will be a partner in his new firm's international arbitration and public international law group. Allen & Overy said he'll lead the expansion of the practice in the Americas.

"We think he's peculiarly well-suited to the needs of our type of practice. It's a business that plays to the global strengths of the firm," said Tim House, the firm's senior U.S. partner. "It's fitting in a missing piece."

That means guiding clients through high-stakes, complex commercial arbitration, such as infrastructure development disputes and investor-state matters, House said. He added that the firm is looking to add lawyers who speak Spanish and Portuguese to meet demand from Latin America.

House said international arbitration typically generates about a third of Allen & Overy's global dispute resolution revenue.

Pearsall's addition comes just weeks after two other additions by Allen & Overy in Washington: Billy Jacobson and Jonathan Lopez, two Justice Department veterans who joined from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

Before joining Jenner in 2017, Pearsall was the Department of State's chief of investment arbitration. In that role, he defended the U.S. in international investment disputes with other countries and companies, including a $15 billion dispute with TransCanada over the Keystone XL pipeline.

During his eight-year tenure in the Obama administration, Pearsall was involved in the negotiations of a number of international trade and investment agreements that ultimately did not come to fruition, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-country deal that would have covered Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the U.S.; the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union; and a bilateral investment treaty with China.

While Allen & Overy has pursued U.S. growth in the wake of failed merger talks with O'Melveny & Myers, the London-based firm has taken steps to shore up its financial position during the COVID-19 pandemic. The firm has issued a capital call to its partners and reduced their distributions. It has also frozen associate and support staff pay as well as bonuses. It has also deferred certain recruitment and canceled several events.

House acknowledged the unusual backdrop to the the firm's latest growth while defending the measures it has taken.

"There's a balance between sensible precautions to maintain the business, but we're not stopping investment," House said.

He added that the firm's desire to grow its international arbitration practice predated the current crisis. "This has been a prepandemic long-term strategic thinking," he said.

Pearsall has taught at multiple law schools. He currently teaches courses on international courts and tribunals and investment arbitration at Georgetown University Law Center.

Jenner & Block saw its top-line revenue grow by 1.5% to $448 million in 2019, reversing four years of sliding revenues. In March, Thomas Perrelli, a former associate U.S. attorney general and a co-chairman of Jenner & Block's government controversies and public policy litigation practice, became the firm's newest chairman.

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