International law firm Simmons & Simmons, which opened in Bristol 18 months ago, has expanded the office – and its corporate team – further with the appointment of partner Patrick Graves.
The arrival of Patrick, pictured, from Bristol rival Osborne Clarke, where he was a partner, takes the number of partners at Simmons & Simmons’ Bristol office to nine with 34 fee earners. 
His appointment is the fourth at partner level at the firm since the beginning of May and follows those of Mahrie Webb, Hinal Patel and Jocelyn Ormond.
When the office – Simmons & Simmons first outside London – opened in October 2012 it had three partners and 15 fee earners, including financial services litigation partners Tim Boyce and Ed Crosse, both recruited from Osborne Clarke
While the firm has relocated some lawyers from London it has also been on a recruitment drive across Bristol, taking on a number of lawyers from city firms. Mahrie Webb joined from Burges Salmon, as did banking and property finance specialist and partner Helen Hancock while Jocelyn Ormond arrived from DAC Beachcroft’s Bristol office, where he was corporate partner and head of the firm’s independent sector health and social care team.
The arrival into the already highly-competitive Bristol market of a firm the size of Simmons & Simmons – it employs more than 1,500 people including 230-plus partners and around 800 other legal staff across its 22 offices – has caused staff retention problems for some established firms already challenged by an increasingly-active jobs market.
While latest arrival Patrick’s practice covers all aspects of corporate/mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and corporate finance, he has specialised in equity capital markets (ECM) since advising on his first London Stock Exchange listing in 1992.
Simmons & Simmons corporate & commercial international practice group head Mark Curtis said: “Patrick Graves’ arrival marks a further milestone in the expansion of our corporate practice.
“His extensive ECM experience and knowledge of all aspects of corporate finance will be invaluable to our international practice. Together with the recent appointments of Hinal Patel and Jocelyn Ormond, we have an even stronger team with the capability to provide our clients with the full service of corporate requirements.”
