Coming and Going Concerns

The London and Frankfurt offices of law firm Bingham McCutchen, as well as a number of partners from the firm’s Hong Kong office, will join Akin Gump in a move that will open Akin Gump’s first office in Germany. The expanded corporate practice in London, Hong Kong and Germany will advise on corporate work including mergers and acquisitions, and the move unites Akin Gump’s U.S. financial restructuring practice with restructuring partners in London. The firm’s financial dispute resolution group will continue representing European and U.S. financial institutions, including hedge funds and investment management groups.

Damien Coles and Neil McDonald have joined the Hong Kong office of Kirkland & Ellis as partners in the restructuring group. Mr. Coles focuses on cross-border transactions in Indonesia, India, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, and he works with private-equity funds, banks and turnaround professionals. Mr. McDonald, who’s worked with financial institutions, turnaround management firms and hedge funds, advises clients on workouts, liquidations and shareholder disputes. The two join Kirkland & Ellis from Hogan Lovells’s Hong Kong office.

Daniel Lubell has joined law firm Locke Lord as a partner with the bankruptcy, restructuring and insolvency group. Mr. Lubell focuses on corporate reorganizations and has represented debtors, creditors and other parties in Chapter 11 cases as well as out-of-court restructurings. He has worked on the Lehman Brothers and MF Global proceedings under the Securities Investor Protection Act, or SIPA. Most recently, Mr. Lubell was a partner with Hughes Hubbard & Reed.

Stephen Rutenberg has joined Kaye Scholer as a partner with the law firm’s bankruptcy and restructuring department. Mr. Rutenberg, who most recently worked with law firm Sidley Austin, will focus on advising investors in special situations. He has experience advising hedge funds, private-equity firms, and broker-dealers. Mr. Rutenberg has worked on such bankruptcy cases as those of Dewey & LeBoeuf, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and AMR Corp.

Ray Schrock joined law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges as a partner in the New York office, where he will help lead the business finance and restructuring group. Mr. Schrock has experience representing debtors, creditors, private-equity funds and other parties in restructurings both in and out of court. As Law Blog has reported, Mr. Schrock worked on well-known bankruptcy cases including General Motors, Lehman Brothers Holdings and Enron Corp. Most recently, he was a partner with Kirkland & Ellis.

-Compiled by Melanie Cohen.