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King & Spalding has strengthened its London office with the hire of high-profile corporate partner William Charnley from Mayer Brown.
Charnley, whose resignation was announced internally at Mayer Brown Wednesday night, is also the former London managing partner at U.S. rival McDermott Will & Emery.
He joined Mayer Brown in 2007 after nine years at McDermott which saw him launch the U.S. firm's London office.
McDermott's City arm opened in 1998 after Charnley joined the firm from Simmons & Simmons (where he was head of corporate finance) along with banking partner Graham Rowbotham to launch the new base.
He has a broad-based practice covering M&A, capital markets and private equity, and works across a raft of sectors including insurance, financial services, telecommunications, technology, oil and gas, hospitality, infrastructure, entertainment and media.
The move marks the seventh lateral hire for King & Spalding in 2012 after the U.S. firm brought in Bird & Bird dispute resolution partners Jane Player and Sarah Walker earlier this year.
The firm also recently doubled the size of its Paris office with a seven-lawyer real estate team from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer led by partners Benoit Marcilhacy and Pascal Schmitz.
