Zimmerman beats his jinx
White & Case has snared US securities specialist Joshua Zimmerman from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. He will continue to be based in Hong Kong and joins the firm as international counsel in its regional capital markets team.
Kenneth Ellis, head of the capital markets practice, expects Zimmerman to bring the firm more bank clients. "Josh brings strong capabilities and experience to our securities team, especially with respect to underwriter representation in Asia, " he says. "Josh has significant debt and equity capital markets experience throughout Asia."
The firm has traditionally had a strong roster of corporate clients and Ellis is now trying to broaden the securities team. Late last year he hired Ian Hardee, an English- and Hong Kong-qualified partner, from Clifford Chance to focus on debt capital markets, working alongside partners Olivia Lee and Jeremy Leifer, who specialize in Hong Kong capital markets work. Ellis himself covers US-law advice on both debt and equity transactions.
Zimmerman came to Hong Kong in 2001 with Wall Street's finest, Cravath Swaine & Moore, after working for the white-shoe firm in New York. But luck has not been his greatest ally since moving to Asia. Soon after he arrived it became clear that Cravath's practice was suffering dwindling profits amid a slowdown in big US listings from Asian issuers. Zimmerman left and the firm eventually closed its Hong Kong office in 2003.
Having escaped the frying pan Zimmerman's move to an in-house position at Credit Suisse First Boston sent him straight into the fire, as plunging markets forced deep cutbacks. With hundreds of staff being laid off at CSFB and throughout the investment banking community he sought greener pastures at magic-circle law firm Freshfields.
It seemed a safe bet. Freshfields had enjoyed a decade of strong growth and evergreen profits. But this has been a tough year for the top-tier English firms. Figures this week from The Lawyer, a UK industry newspaper, show that magic-circle firms made a loss for the first time in 10 years in 2003, with Freshfields' profits per equity partner down 5% on revenues of £785 million ($1.5 billion).
The firm's management committee is particularly worried about profitability throughout its network of far-flung offices and has already closed Bangkok. Further restructuring is expected.
But Zimmerman, who has developed a passion for all things Asian, is staying on in Hong Kong and looks to have beat his jinx by moving to White & Case. The New York firm booked the second-biggest revenue growth among US firms in 2003, up by more than 20% to $811 million, according to the American Lawyer. Zimmerman, a well-versed, old-school New York securities lawyer, ought to be around to see the firm hit its target of $1 billion by 2005.