Welcoming our new corporate partners and our third team hire of 2021

The firm announced its third team hire of 2021 last month, appointing four new lawyers to the partnership from Stephenson Harwood. 

Andrew Edge and Karima Hudson joined the firm on 19 April and Andrew McLean and Chris Cowley start with the firm as partners on 4 May, following completion of their notice periods.

Andrew Edge is a corporate lawyer specialising in high value public and private M&A, joint venture, venture IPOs and secondary fundraisings, with a particular focus on the life sciences sector. As former head of Stephenson Harwood's corporate department, he is recognised by market bodies, the legal media and international clients as one of the leading corporate M&A lawyers in the market. He has renowned experience of the life sciences sector with a particular focus on biotech and pharmaceuticals industries.

Karima Hudson is a specialist M&A lawyer in the healthcare sector advising both operators and investors, and former head of Stephenson Harwood's healthcare team.

Andrew McLean is a corporate partner with extensive international experience in the real estate sector advising clients on the most complex of M&A, joint venture and corporate transactions. His experience advising sellers and purchasers on high value transactions rounds off the firm's continued investment in its structured real estate offering, and growing its real estate sector offering.

Chris Cowley is a rising star and has experience on a broad range of corporate matters including M&A, joint ventures, private equity, private fund formations and reorganisations. He has acted for a wide variety of clients in the technology, energy and real-estate sectors, and will add further value to the firm's private equity capability.

UK executive board member and corporate partner James Goold added: “We're delighted to have attracted such a quality team of corporate partners whose sector focus aligns so clearly with our own.  We continue to see demand for expertise-led corporate advice increase from international clients in the life sciences, healthcare and real estate sectors. The arrival of this team helps us support those demands with even greater bench strength.  Our clients turn to us in these sectors for our ability to blend high value corporate M&A expertise with commercial, regulatory and tax specialists who can advise across all areas of their operations and present new opportunities for the growth of their businesses."

Co-head of the firm's international life sciences and healthcare sector group, Alison Dennis said: "The appointments of Andrew, Karima, Chris and Andrew, enrich the expertise across our international group and the distinctive offering of elite expertise and knowledge available for our clients. We have extensive teams advising on regulatory, competition, M&A, investment, real estate, disputes and intellectual property, which are increasingly essential for the continued growth and competitive advantage our clients in this space need. We look forward to working with them."

UK managing partner Shane Gleghorn said: "We are pleased to be able to grow our life sciences and healthcare corporate capabilities with these hires of Andrew Edge and Karima Hudson. We are seeing increased deal flow in this sector and both hires are renowned for their sector expertise and commerciality. The hire of Andrew McLean is also important as his skill set and client reputation in corporate real estate will enhance our team's offering in that regard. Chris Cowley will be joining our PE team which has seen an increase in deal activity."

The firm has shown significant investments in its sector groups and a strategic lateral hiring approach to the growth of its corporate expertise, most with the appointments of Michael Goldberg and his team from Greenberg Traurig.