Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance appoints Saudi based banking and finance specialist Paul Latto to partner as part of global partner promotions

Clifford Chance has appointed Saudi Arabian-based banking and finance specialist, Paul Latto, to partner reinforcing Clifford Chance's continued investment in the Middle East and in particular, Saudi Arabia. Paul is one of 20 newly promoted partners globally. The new partners are drawn from offices around the firm's global network and reflect the firm's continued investment in developing sustainable depth and breadth of expertise across geographies, products and sectors.

"We are pleased to announce that Paul Latto has been appointed to partnership today. This appointment is a testament to Paul's outstanding work in Saudi Arabia in supporting our banking and finance clients and growing our practice in the Middle East" noted Clifford Chance Riyadh Office Managing Partner, Tim Plews.

Mohammed Al-Jadaan, Managing Partner of Al-Jadaan & Partners Law Firm commented: "Paul is an outstanding banking and finance specialist who has led and worked on many complex and ground-breaking Saudi-based transactions. His understanding of local law issues and his commercial prowess make Paul a go-to expert amongst Saudi based clients."

Paul's appointment reinforces Clifford Chance's long term connection with Saudi Arabia and part of its broader strategy for ambitious growth across the Middle East. Clifford Chance announced earlier this year that it would be the first international law firm to set up a mixed foreign partnership from 1 January 2014 which will see integration of the Corporate, Finance and Capital Markets practices from Al-Jadaan, Clifford Chance's long-standing co-operation partner in Saudi Arabia. Under the new arrangement, Mohammed Al-Jadaan will continue as consultant and strategic adviser on transactional issues. Paul will be joined by Abdulaziz Al-Abduljabbar, head of Al-Jadaan's Banking & Finance practice, and the two will spearhead Clifford Chance's Banking & Finance practice in Saudi Arabia. Khalid Al-Abdulkareem, Corporate partner at Al-Jadaan will join Clifford Chance and will work alongside partner Omar Rashid in the growing Corporate practice.

David Childs, Clifford Chance Managing Partner comments, "Many of this year's new partners have demonstrated a strong commitment to supporting the growth of the firm's offering internationally, including leading development efforts in a wide range of markets beyond their 'home' office, into Scandinavia, the Middle East, Latin America and South East Asia. This international mind-set is at the heart of our firm's culture and it is very pleasing to see our Principles so clearly embodied in these individuals.  I would like to extend my congratulations to each of them and warmly welcome them all to our partnership."

The promotions will take effect from 1 May 2013 and will bring the total number of partners in the firm to 589. 

The newly promoted partners are:

Matthew Buchanan – Singapore, Finance

Peter Christ – Düsseldorf, Corporate

Clifford Cone - New York, Capital Markets

Peter Dahlen – London, Finance

Emmanuel Durand – Paris, L&DR

Tom Evans – London, Corporate

Simon Greenberg – Paris, L&DR

Antonio Henriquez – Madrid, Capital Markets

Oliver Hipperson – London, Finance

Ross Howard – Paris, Finance

Nick Hughes – London, Corporate

Gerold Jaeger – Frankfurt, Real Estate

Paul Latto – Riyadh, Finance

Ferdinando Poscio – Milan, Finance

Maxine Mossman – London, L&DR

Melissa Ng – Singapore, Corporate

Jiahua Ni – Shanghai, Finance

Thomas Reischauer – Frankfurt, Real Estate

Titus de Vries – Amsterdam, Finance

José Luis Zamarro – Madrid, Corporate

Clifford Chance continues to be recognised for its cutting-edge work in the Middle-East with the Firm recently being named Middle East Law Firm of the Year by Chambers Global 2013 and IFLR Middle East International Law Firm of the Year 2012 (winning for the fifth time in six years). Al-Jadaan has won the IFLR Saudi Law Firm of the Year in each of the seven years it has been awarded. Both firms also shared the coveted IFLR Debt and Equity Linked Deal of the Year award for the Saudi GACA sukuk and IFLR Equity Deal of the Year award for the Zain KSA rights issue.

Clifford Chance has in the past two years launched offices in Doha, Casablanca and Istanbul as it continues to serve clients across the Middle East and North Africa.

For further information about this release please contact Magdalena Suder.