Kirkland & Ellis and Sidley turn to Freshfields and Weil for London finance boost
Kirkland hires Freshfields finance partner Steele in London as Sidley picks up a partner from Weil's City base.
August 03, 2015 at 07:57 AM
3 minute read
Kirkland & Ellis has boosted its City finance practice with the hire of a partner from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer as Sidley Austin has strengthened its team with a hire from Weil Gotshal & Manges.
Michael Steele is leaving the magic circle firm to join Kirkland in the City, with his move coming a month after Freshfields hired capital markets partner Ward McKimm from Kirkland. McKimm joined as co-head of Freshfields' European leveraged finance practice.
Steele focuses on advising private equity sponsors, financial institutions and credit funds on matters such as restructurings, loan portfolio deals, and leveraged and real estate transactions. While at Freshfields he previously spent 12 months seconded to the leveraged finance team at Goldman Sachs in 2010.
His hire comes as US rival Sidley Austin has hired Weil finance partner Rupert Wall in the City. Wall trained at Freshfields, qualifying in 2003, before joining Weil in 2004.
Meanwhile, Ropes & Gray has also hired a Weil lawyer, Chris McGarry. McGarry, an associate at Weil, will join the firm's London finance practice as a partner.
Weil has seen a number of departures in London over the last 18 months, with former Weil tax partner Jonathan Kandel joining Kirkland in June. Kandel's move to Kirkland reunited him with Weil's former London banking head Stephen Lucas who moved to Kirkland in May 2014 after three years at Weil.
Meanwhile Simpson Thacher & Bartlett hired Weil London high yield partner Gil Strauss in August 2014, less than two years after he joined the firm.
Kirkland has also seen a degree of churn in its London partnership. In May it lost three fund partners to Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson. Mark Mifsud, Kate Downey and Alexandra Conroy joined former Kirkland London senior partner Graham White at the firm following his December 2014 move to head Fried Frank's City practice.
However the firm has also made a number of other hires in recent months, bringing in corporate partner Matthew Elliott and competition partner Paula Riedel from Linklaters.
Separately, White & Case has also strengthened its partnership ranks with the hire of a lawyer from Freshfields. Restructuring and insolvency senior associate Ian Wallace has joined the firm as a partner in London. While at Freshfields he did secondments at BAE Systems and Barclays Bank.
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