Stephenson Harwood poaches PE trio in KWM fallout

Mikkel Stern-Peltz
06 January 2017

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Former King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) partners Gabriel Boghossian, Warren Allan and Jonathan Pittal have joined law firm Stephenson Harwood to expand the private equity practice in the London office of the firmтs corporate arm.

Stephenson Harwood is the latest firm to pick up staff from KWM, which shares an office with unquote" parent Mergermarket Group, as the Hong Kong-headquartered law firm's EMEA business heads into pre-pack administration.

In late December, US-headquartered law firm Orrick poached Christoph Brenner for its Munich-based private equity team, as well as partner Ylan Steiner in London. At the time, a source close to the situation told unquote" the entire KWM private equity and venture capital team is expected to join Orrick.

Jonathan Pittal resigned from KWM in October, after disagreements surrounding the firm's since-scuppered £14m recapitalisation programme. He left alongside UK investment funds head Michael Halford, corporate partner Andrew Wingfield and former managing partner Rob Day. Before departing, Pittal was KWM's co-head of UK private equity.

Gabriel Boghossian was a private equity partner at his former firm, having joined KWM from Macfarlanes in 2016, where he was a senior solicitor for five and a half years. Prior to his time at Macfarlanes, Boghossian was a private equity and M&A associate at Baker & McKenzie.

Warren Allan was a partner in KWM's private equity practice, specialising in secondary transactions, fund formation and buyouts. He joined SJ Berwin in 2002 as a trainee solicitor and spent 14 years with the firm that would eventually merge with KWM. Allan was made associate at SJ Berwin in 2004 and partner in 2012.