In a strategic move ahead of an imminent merger, Linklaters has recruited a team of six lawyers from Shearman & Sterling. This comes as Shearman readies to merge with UK-based law firm, Allen & Overy.
The newly hired team includes George Casey, a partner at Shearman for over two decades, who will join Linklaters in the capacity of global co-chair of the corporate practice. Adding to the leadership team at Linklaters will be Heiko Schiwek from Shearman as the global leader of the chemicals sector.
Additional members of the recruited team include former Shearman counsel Greg Gewirtz, who will now act as a partner at Linklaters, as well as Yiting Du, Wendy Suh, and Michael Lomtevas who held positions of counsel, senior associate, and associate respectively at Shearman.
The merger between Allen & Overy and Shearman, approved in October of last year, is due to close by May. The conjoined entity will go by the name of A&O Shearman and is estimated to have close to 3,900 lawyers on board. Based on data from 2022, the combined gross revenue of the entity is expected to be around $3.4 billion.
Shearman expressed its anticipation of the merger and recognized the contributions of the outsourced team, stating: “Upon the imminent completion of our transformative merger with Allen & Overy, A&O Shearman is expected to have more than 180 M&A partners who, together, will provide unparalleled capability to global businesses,” Shearman said in a statement. “We thank George and Heiko for their contributions and wish them well.”