City law firm Fieldfisher acquires Mayfair boutique in bet on London’s hedge fund sector
City law firm Fieldfisher has acquired a specialist Mayfair boutique in a bet London’s hedge fund sector will thrive post-Brexit.
The City firm has acquired West End boutique Cummings Law and hired two senior partners from rival firms to launch Cummings Fisher, which will specialise in funds, derivatives, financial services regulation and fund formation work.
Head of derivatives at Fieldfisher Guy Usher told City PM the firm was not worried about a Brexit effect as while some hedge funds may be affected by Brexit, others would see it as an opportunity.
“There are just as many looking at Brexit as an opportunity, they are macro funds, they love this stuff, the cost to them of doing a bit of restructuring is dwarfed by the trading opportunity they see,” he said.
The firm will be based in the heart of London’s hedge fund industry at 1 Mayfair Place with the goal of providing a specialist service for hedge fund clients, while also drawing on the wider services, personnel and infrastructure offered by Fieldfisher’s pan-European offering
Cummings Law will be led by three principal partners: Claire Cummings as managing partner, James Tinworth who is joining from City firm Stephenson Harwood where he was a partner and head of the hedge funds practice, and derivatives specialist Ron Feldman who joined Fieldfisher recently from asset management consultancy MJ Hudson.
It will be owned by Fieldfisher, with the three partners retaining partnership of both firms.
Cummings said: “We don’t just have the capability of going to Fieldfisher and saying we need to staff up for this in London, we can go to Fieldfisher throughout Europe and staff up into Cummings Fisher, it’s a one-stop shop, pan-European alternative investment firm.”
It will also work with Fieldfisher’s trading document negotiation business based in Belfast with plans to offer a sell-side trading document negotiation service to clients.
Other recent law firm launches in London include Swiss disputes firm Lalive which opened a City office late last year in anticipation of a post-Brexit spike in arbitration work and US West Coast firm Wilson Sonsini which opened an office on Old Street last August to target London's burgeoning tech sector.