HSF Kramer raids Sidley for London life sciences head

HSF Kramer has made its second London partner hire of the week, bringing in Sidley’s life sciences head Marie Manley.

Manley is one of the market’s top names in the sector and has spent the past eight years at Sidley, where she built its London life sciences regulatory practice. She will head up HSF Kramer’s life sciences regulatory practice.

She joined Sidley in 2018 from Bristows, where she headed the regulatory practice.

Writing on LinkedIn, Manley said she was “incredibly proud” of what the Sidley team had built from the “ground up” and described the move as an opportunity to build further on HSF Kramer’s global full-service platform.

“I am thrilled to be joining HSFK and to lead its Life Sciences Regulatory practice,” she said.

“What particularly excites me is the opportunity to build on that platform and further strengthen the firm's regulatory offering for life sciences clients at a time when regulatory, market access and competition issues are becoming increasingly complex and interconnected.”

Alan Montgomery, HSF Kramer’s head of life sciences, called Manley a “leading light” in UK and European life sciences regulation and said her arrival would “transform our offering to clients in the sector”.

Second hire this week

Manley’s arrival follows the hire of private equity partner Alex McCarney from Eversheds Sutherland earlier this week.

McCarney was promoted to partner last year after joining Eversheds from Skadden. He has also previously worked at Latham and trained at Eversheds.

Clients he has worked with include Aurelius, Equacy Capital Partners, Inflexion and Corient.

John Taylor, head of HSF Kramer’s London private equity practice, said “[McCarney] is known for his strong sponsor relationships, deep market insight and track record advising on complex private equity transactions.”

The firm said investing in its London private equity practice was a key strategic focus.