Dechert on Monday hired a former head of Shearman & Sterling’s derivatives and structured finance practices as the firm prepares for the coming changes in financial regulation.

M. Holland West joined as a partner in Dechert’s financial services practice group in New York. Barton J. Winokur, chairman of the firm, said in a statement that West’s experiences as a veteran Wall Street lawyer “will be of great benefit to our clients as we assist them in adapting their businesses to the evolving structural and regulatory framework.”