It’s
May
1,
and
for
the
Biglaw
community,
that
means
that
a
new
competitor
just
entered
the
marketplace.
Today
marks
A&O
Shearman’s
very
first
day
of
existence,
and
the
brand
new
megafirm
—
formed
from
the
union
of
Allen
&
Overy
and
Shearman
&
Sterling
—
grosses
$3.5
billion,
with
nearly
4,000
lawyers,
including
800
partners.
On
Day
One,
the
firm
has
already
made
some
major
moves,
naming
its
board,
executive
committee
members,
and
practice
group
leaders.
As
noted
by
the
American
Lawyer,
A&O
Shearman’s
leadership
leans
Allen
&
Overy,
with
eight
of
its
11
board
members
and
nine
of
its
13
executive
committee
members
hailing
from
the
legacy
firm.
Two
A&O
partners
will
serve
as
the
firm’s
managing
partners
in
the
U.K.,
while
two
Shearman
partners
will
serve
as
the
firm’s
managing
partners
in
the
U.S.
As
far
as
practice
groups
and
geographies
are
concerned,
they
will
be
managed
by
partners
in
a
co-
or
tri-lead
fashion
from
the
firm
that
had
a
“stronger
hand”
coming
in
to
the
merger.
Going
forward,
A&O
Shearman
will
have
about
21
practice
groups,
set
up
in
four
departments:
corporate,
finance,
disputes,
and
projects/energy/infrastructure.
Here
are
some
additional
details
from
the
firm’s
power
players:
Law
firm
leadership,
including
senior
partner
Khalid
Garousha
and
U.S.
chair
Adam
Hakki,
told
Law.com
on
Tuesday
that
A&O
Shearman
aims
to
combine
most
of
its
offices
“by
the
end
of
this
year.”
For
his
part,
Hakki
noted
that
the
first
100
days
were
about
“getting
in
front
of
the
clients
[and]
getting
people
together
across
the
firms
working
for
clients.”Hakki
added
that
the
goal
of
the
merger
was
to
create
a
one-of-a-kind
firm
that
was
equally
adept
in
U.S.
and
English
law,
had
global
depth,
and
reach,
“and
we
have
achieved
that.”
The
merger,
he
said,
lifts
“both
firms
to
a
level
they
could
not
have
gotten
to
independently,”
while
it
doesn’t
follow
“the
pattern”
of
any
other
firm.
Without
further
ado,
this
is
what
A&O
Shearman’s
full
leadership
team
looks
like:
A&O
Shearman
Board:
-
Khalid
Garousha:
Co-Chair -
Adam
Hakki:
Co-Chair -
Hervé
Ekué -
Parya
Badie -
Lisa
Brill -
Tim
Conduit -
Sally
Dewar -
Roger
Lui -
Peter
Myners -
Lona
Nallengara -
Ken
Rivlin
A&O
Shearman
Executive
Committee:
-
Khalid
Garousha:
Co-Chair -
Adam
Hakki:
Co-Chair -
Hervé
Ekué -
Diana
Billik -
David
Broadley -
Denise
Gibson -
David
Higbee -
Astrid
Krueger -
David
Lee -
Doreen
Lilienfeld -
Vicki
Liu -
Stephen
Lloyd -
Fredric
Sosnick
Leaders
of
Major
Practice
Areas:
-
Mergers
and
Acquisitions:
David
Broadley,
Dirk
Meeus,
Scott
Petepiece. -
Litigation
and
Investigations:
Calum
Burnett,
Richard
Schwed,
Antonio
Vazquez-Guillén. -
Debt
Finance:
Gus
Atiyah,
Nicholas
Clark,
Jake
Mincemoyer. -
Antitrust:
David
Higbee,
Dominic
Long -
International
Arbitration:
Alex
Bevan,
Marie
Stoyanov -
Real
Estate: Lisa
Brill,
Christopher
Woolf -
Restructuring
and
Bankruptcy: Fredric
Sosnick,
Katrina
Buckley -
Debt
Finance: Gus
Atiyah,
Nicholas
Clark,
Jake
Mincemoyer -
U.S.
Capital
Markets
and
Global
ICM: Ilir
Mujalovic,
Adam
Wells
A&O
Shearman
Regions:
-
U.S.,
Canada
and
Brazil - France
- Netherlands
- Australia
-
U.K.
(including
London
and
Belfast) - Germany
- Spain
-
Greater
China - Belgium
- Italy
-
META
(Middle
East,
Turkey,
Africa) -
Japan
and
South
Korea -
Central
and
Eastern
Europe - Luxembourg
-
ASEAN
(Association
of
Southeast
Asian
Nations)
Congratulations
to
A&O
Shearman
on
starting
this
merger
off
on
the
right
foot!
We
can’t
wait
to
see
how
the
firm
will
shake
up
the
Biglaw
market
and
what
next
year’s
Am
Law
100
will
look
like
with
the
firm’s
large
presence
officially
on
the
board.
A&O
Shearman
Goes
Live,
With
New
Firm
Naming
Board
and
Practice
Leaders
[American
Lawyer]
Staci
Zaretsky is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law,
where
she’s
worked
since
2011.
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