Winston Taylor loses leading life sciences partner to Ropes & Gray

Ropes & Gray has hired life sciences partner Alison Dennis from Winston Taylor, adding one of the market’s top-ranked specialists to its London office.

Dennis joins after six years at Winston Taylor and legacy firm Taylor Wessing, where she served as international co-head of the firm's life sciences and healthcare group. Before that, she led Fieldfisher's life sciences practice and was a member of the firm's executive committee.

She advises pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies across both regulatory and transactional mandates.

The move comes just weeks after Taylor Wessing completed its merger with Winston & Strawn creating Winston Taylor.

Life sciences focus

Dennis will work alongside London-based European life sciences head Lincoln Tsang at Ropes.

The firm's client roster includes many of the world's largest pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Among its current mandates, Ropes is advising US biotech company Nuvalent on its $10.6 billion acquisition by GSK.

Commenting on the hire, Greg Levine, global head of the firm's life sciences regulatory and compliance practice, said Dennis' arrival was "a statement of our ambitions for London, and a signal to clients of the strength we are building here.”

London expansion

Dennis' arrival takes Ropes’ London partner count to 29 and is the latest in a series of senior hires as the firm accelerates its European expansion, focusing on London, Paris and Milan.

The Boston-headquartered firm has also been building aggressively in New York, recruiting at least nine partners this year from firms including Wachtell, Paul Weiss, Debevoise and Fried Frank.

The hiring push forms part of a broader strategy to deepen the firm's private capital and sector-focused practices across key markets.

Dennis said Ropes & Gray's "incredible global platform" and "outstanding colleagues in life sciences, M&A and across the firm" had attracted her to the move.

“This team is the undisputed life sciences powerhouse, in London and around the world. I’m excited to join,” she said.