The Lawyer | Sam Chadderton
Hogan Lovells investment bank dispute resolution chief Graham Huntley is leaving the firm to launch a boutique litigation firm.
Huntley and fellow Hogan Lovells partner Helen Brannigan are setting up Signature Litigation and taking several associates with them.
Huntley will continue to act for the estate of Arkady ’Badri’ Patarkatsishvili, formerly Georgia’s richest man, in an ongoing dispute with oligarch Boris Berezovsky (30 January 2012).
Huntley made partner at Hogan Lovells in 1993 and specialises in financial institutions and markets litigation.
The new commercial litigation boutique is aimed at avoiding conflict issues at bigger law firms.
Huntley said: “It’s only natural to be sorry to leave behind many good memories and excellent colleagues who I’m sure will continue to take the litigation practice from strength to strength.
“This was, however, the right time for me to put my energy into a new and different challenge, and the opportunity to set up a new business with some colleagues eventually became clearly the right one for me.”
Hogan Lovells co-chief executive David Harris said: “We’re sorry to see Graham leave – he has a great track record and has given the firm tremendous service over the years. However, we understand his desire to take on a different challenge and opportunity and we wish him well. We have no doubt his new practice will have a positive impact.”
He added: “In the short term Hogan Lovells and Signature Litigation will be collaborating on existing projects including the Berezovsky litigation. We certainly see potential for us to work together in the future.”
The boutique will launch formally at the beginning of next month (1 April).
Huntley was also among a line-up of 17 lawyers appointed to a working group put together by the Civil Justice Council last August to look at the implementation of Lord Justice Jackson’s reforms of civil litigation.