Latham lands MoFo London boss in 3-partner tech M&A hire

A trio of tech M&A partners have left Morrison Foerster to join Latham & Watkins in London.

Andrew Boyd, Gary Brown and Luke Rowland focus on deals in the technology, AI, fintech, semiconductors, and media and digital sectors.

Boyd leaves his position as London managing partner of MoFo - a firm well-known for its footprint in tech and innovation-heavy industries - after 10 years there. Litigation head Ben Summerfield will now step up as the firm's City boss, as reported by Financial News.

Brown also joins Latham from a senior position - he was previously co-head of European M&A at the firm, where he also spent the last decade.

Both partners have worked at Latham before - the former was an associate at the firm from 2008 to 2016, and the latter between 2011 and 2016.

The pair also trained at Scottish firm McGrigors - which was absorbed by Pinsent Masons in 2012 - between 2006 and 2008.

Luke Rowland’s move comes just four months after being made partner at MoFo. He previously worked at Slaughter and May in London and Hong Kong.

For MoFo, the exits come in the same month the firm added a three-partner tech transactions team from Baker McKenzie and Morgan Lewis. 

What they said

Latham’s chair and managing partner Rich Trobman said he was thrilled Boyd and Brown were returning to Latham. 

“Andrew, Gary, and Luke are exciting additions to our market-leading M&A practice: extremely experienced, well connected, and driven – with a commitment to excellence and teamwork that makes them a natural fit for Latham,” he said.

Ed Barnett, London managing partner, said: “At a time of strong and growing demand for technology driven mandates, adding talented M&A partners of their experience in London not only builds on our momentum in the City, but also reinforces our position as the go to firm for high end M&A in fast growing technology sectors.”