King & Spalding adds Quinn Emanuel Paris boss in latest disputes hire

King & Spalding has continued its international disputes hiring spree, adding Quinn Emanuel’s Paris managing partner Thomas Voisin.

Voisin joins after nearly 14 years at Quinn Emanuel, where he has led the Paris office since 2017. He specialises in international arbitration, with a particular focus on commercial and investment disputes in the energy and transportation sectors.

The move makes Voisin the ninth international disputes partner to join King & Spalding in the past three months, following its high-profile raid on WilmerHale earlier this summer.

Quinn Emanuel has named arbitration specialist Isabelle Michou to succeed Voisin as head of its Paris office.

Disputes hiring spree

The WilmerHale raid included an eight-partner international disputes team spanning London, New York and Washington DC, led by star arbitration lawyer Gary Born.

The move included an 11-lawyer team in London alone and significantly strengthened a practice that was already one of King & Spalding’s core areas.

Elizabeth Silbert, co-head of King & Spalding’s international disputes practice, said Voisin’s hire was an important part of the expansion given Paris’s position as a major global arbitration centre.

“Having a leading partner like Thomas join our existing team in the city rounds out our recent addition of top-tier lawyers in London, New York and Washington DC,” she said.

Voisin said King & Spalding’s recent growth and existing disputes team made joining the firm “an easy decision”, adding that he believed the practice was positioned to become “the leading force in international disputes”.

King & Spalding opened in Paris in 2009 and currently has 18 partners in the French capital.