Locke Lord opens London office with laterals

Locke Lord has hired 10 lawyers from Salans to staff its new London office. The Dallas-based firm announced the London office last fall, but the office opened last week with the lateral hires. The new lawyers include partners Roger Abrahams, who will head the office, Stephen Finch, Paula Howard, David Grant, Kevin Heath, Daniel Polden, Graham Spitz and Jim Varley, and associates Marc Abrahams and Simon Cohen. In an email, Roger Abrahams writes that from his very first meeting with lawyers from Locke Lord, he felt a “connection” with the firm’s leaders, personality and strategy. “I really believe we share the same values in how we work with clients, and how we work together as attorneys. Locke Lord not only has vision but also the entrepreneurial spirit” to realize that vision, Abrahams writes. Abrahams declines to identify clients, but notes “the partners who comprise the new London office each have vibrant practices and have brought their clients to Locke Lord.” The London lawyers do banking and finance, insolvency and restructuring, litigation, real estate and corporate work. In a written statement, Locke Lord chairwoman Jerry Clements says the 650-lawyer firm is proud and excited to add the London lawyers to its international team. In an email from Annette Spencer of London, global head of media relations for Salans, the firm says it has more than 70 lawyers in London after the departures. “Given this background, we recognize that it’s a part of life that at different times people will want to come and go or change what they are doing. It’s an integral part of the business cycle and offers opportunities for fresh resources and ideas,” the 770-lawyer firm writes in the statement.
-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys