Latham & Watkins is reshuffling its corporate team with the head of its London corporate group, Bryant Edwards, moving to the Middle East.
The US- and UK-qualified Edwards, who has been based in London since 2000, will split his time between London and Dubai until the end of the year, when he will move full-time to the Middle East. M&A partner Charles Fuller will also be relocating to Dubai later in the year.
Edwards' move means partners Richard Trobman and Nigel Campion-Smith will now take joint responsibility as co-chairs of Latham’s 50-lawyer London corporate practice.
Trobman, who also joined the London office in 2000, will also take sole charge of Latham’s European corporate finance team -- a role he previously shared with Edwards.
In a separate move, San Francisco corporate partner Tracy Edmonson will relocate to London later this year alongside New York finance partner and senior finance partner Bill Voge.
Edwards, who has a strong reputation in the high yield market and has previously served as vice chairman of the European High Yield Association, will take the number of partners in Latham's recently-established Dubai office to three.
The firm hopes to have 15 associates in Dubai by September and two more partners are set to relocate from elsewhere in the firm. Projects partner Dennis Nordstrom will move from London to Abu Dhabi, with a team of associates.
Latham unveiled plans to launch three new offices in the Middle East in February this year, bringing in Rindala Beydoun from Vinson & Elkins to head up the practices across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha.
Edwards told Legal Week: "We will become the largest U.S. firm in the Middle East, being the only U.S. firm with three offices in the region. Between 55 and 60 percent of sovereign fund [investment] is going back into the U.S. and, with our M&A capability in the U.S., we are well placed to deal with that kind of work."
The Dubai office began practicing with the hire of Beydoun, and the firm received its formal license to practice in Abu Dhabi last month, with the Doha office expected to open in September.
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