New year, new start: Moves, mergers and promotions of 2015

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2026

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

New year, new start: Moves, mergers and promotions of 2015

The start of each year is often a time when firms choose to announce promotions, mergers and more.

International Tax Review has compiled its own non-exhaustive new years honours list to keep track of the myriad announcements which January 2015 has brought. Click on the links to see more detailed coverage.

Mergers and acquisitions

American firm Cooley announced it will open its first European office in London. It will take a team of lawyers from Edwards Wildman.

Prietocarrizosa, from Colombia, and Philippi, from Chile, have undergone a merger, creating one of the largest South American law firms. The new firm will also be associated with Uría Menéndez.

Ryan has bought tax automation services company Taxaccord.

Moves and promotions

Taxand has created a new role of global managing director to improve its cross-border services, knowledge sharing and work with multinationals, to be filled by Tim Wach.

Tara Ferris, formerly of the Internal Revenue Service, has joined the OECD as a consultant in Washington.

Heather Gething has been made a judge in the First-tier Tribunal (tax chamber) in England. She will continue to lead Herbert Smith Freehills’s tax disputes practice.

Altorfer, Duss & Beilstein has made Pascal Taddei a tax partner. The firm also became a member of Nexus International late last year.

Bruno Knadjian, Roberta An Chang and Lee Squires are among 24 new partners and 41 new counsels, of counsels and consultants at Hogan Lovells.

White & Case has hired Michael Lebovitz and Steven Weerts for its Los Angeles office from DLA Piper.

Noah Beck has been elevated to partner at Schulte Roth & Zabel.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges has promoted 12 practitioners to partner and another 15 to counsel roles, including Edouard de Lamy and David Irvine in tax.

For the new year, Elvinger, Hoss & Prussen has made Oliver Gaston-Braund a tax partner, along with two other non-tax promotions.

Akerman has increased the amount of international tax experience in its Chicago branch by hiring Susan Klein from Polsinelli.



If you don’t see key activity from your firm on this list, email Joe Stanley-Smith at joseph.stanley-smith@euromoneyplc.com to add information on promotions, mergers and people moves this year.

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

The controversial deal will allow US-parented groups to be carved out from key aspects of pillar two
Awards
ITR invites tax firms, in-house teams, and tax professionals to make submissions for the 2027 World Tax rankings and the 2026 ITR Tax Awards globally
Pillar two was ‘weakened’ when it altered from a multinational convention agreement to simply national domestic law, Federico Bertocchi also argued
Imposing the tax on virtual assets is a measure that appears to have no legal, economic or statistical basis, one expert told ITR
The EU has seemingly capitulated to the US’s ‘side-by-side’ demands. This may be a win for the US, but the uncertainty has only just begun for pillar two
The £7.4m buyout marks MHA’s latest acquisition since listing on the London Stock Exchange earlier this year
ITR’s most prolific stories of the year charted public pillar two spats, the continued fallout from the PwC Australia tax leaks scandal, and a headline tax fraud trial
The climbdowns pave the way for a side-by-side deal to be concluded this week, as per the US Treasury secretary’s expectation; in other news, Taft added a 10-partner tax team
A vote to be held in 2026 could create Hogan Lovells Cadwalader, a $3.6bn giant with 3,100 lawyers across the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific
Foreign companies operating in Libya face source-based taxation even without a local presence. Multinationals must understand compliance obligations, withholding risks, and treaty relief to avoid costly surprises
Gift this article