In further hefty hires for Deloitte Legal, the legal arm of the Big Four giant has today announced the appointment of two new partners, Andrew Lilley, former managing partner of Travers Smith, and Liz Pierson, formerly a partner at Squire Patton Boggs, who will respectively join as UK head of employment and head of Deloitte’s reward practice.
Lilley began his legal career at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP in 1985 before moving to Travers Smith LLP in 1995. He became head of the firm’s employment law practice and was appointed as its managing partner in 2010.
He will be focused on providing businesses with advice on informed decisions about their workforce and all aspects of employment law and employee relations, as well as supporting Deloitte’s wider business services.
Pierson (pictured right), will lead a team of approximately 20 lawyers offering legal advice around executive remuneration, equity and incentives for both private and public clients. She joins from Squire Patton Boggs, where she has been partner since September 2017. Prior to this, Pierson worked as a senior counsel at Clifford Chance for four years. She has also worked as an in-house reward and governance lawyer for Virgin Media and held various roles at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer after qualifying at Bowman Gilfillan in South Africa.
Commenting on the two appointments, Michael Castle, UK managing partner for Deloitte Legal, said: “Andrew and Liz both have fantastic track records in their respective fields. As we continue to build Deloitte Legal’s presence in the UK, we are determined to hire the very best talent in order to provide our clients with best-in-class service.”
These are indeed heavyweight hires that further demonstrate Deloitte’s commitment to growing its legal presence. They will not, however, silence those who point out that Deloitte Legal is building up a team of highly conventional legal heads, and who question how it will create a differentiated legal offering on that basis.
Deloitte Legal has 60+ client-facing practicing lawyers in the UK and 125+ other fee-earners, many of whom are delivering regulated legal activities. Globally, Deloitte Legal currently has c.2,500 professionals operating in more than 80 countries around the world.
