Biglaw

How To Lateral To 2 Different Biglaw Firms On The Same Day

That was weird.

By Kathryn Rubino on January 23, 2018 10:59 am

May I present to you the curious case of Angus Duncan.

On January 17th, Hunton & Williams proudly announced the hire of Angus Duncan, formerly of Winston & Strawn, to join their structured finance and securitization practice in their London office.

Also on January 17th, it was reported that Clyde & Co. picked up two new insurance partners in its London office from Mayer Brown: Mandip Sagoo and… Angus Duncan.

There were no typos involved and no glitch in the matrix (least not as far as we can tell). Just two Biglaw partners in the same city with the same name that, through some crazy cosmic happenstance, changed firms on the exact same day. As Law.com reports — it really was just a coincidence:

But in London, there are only two men in Big Law sharing the Angus Duncan name—and they changed firms on the same day. Surely, this was a coordinated strike.

Alas, it was nothing of the sort, said Angus James Duncan, now of Hunton & Williams.

“It’s a funny coincidence,” said Duncan, who prior to joining his new firm, Winston & Strawn and Cadwalader, also spent a decade as a partner at Allen & Overy and more than five years as an associate at fellow Magic Circle shop Slaughter and May.

The Anguses will now work a short five-minute walk away from one another. The pair have never met, and Angus James Duncan says the only other issue with his name-twin was a brief case of mistaken identity when checking into a French hotel. Fortunately, their different practice areas keeps confusion to a minimum.

Until that one time when they both planned major career moves on the same day. Weird.

headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).