Freshfields has hired Latham & Watkins private capital M&A partner Matthew Goulding to launch its new Boston office, with additional hires expected in the coming months.
Goulding (pictured), who will join as managing partner of the new office and lead the build out, previously spent four years at Latham in Boston following 15 years at Weil, where he made partner in 2018. He brings expertise advising financial sponsors and strategics on leveraged buyouts, M&A, carve-outs, take-privates, joint ventures, shareholder agreements, equity investments, and syndication deals.
In a conversation with Legal Business, Neal Reenan, global co-head of Freshfields’ private capital group, who also joined from Latham just under a year ago, described Boston as an ‘active hub’ for private capital, life sciences and emerging companies.
‘Having a Boston office that focuses on these areas will create synergies with other parts of the firm that are actively serving established and targeting greenfield clients in these growth areas’ he said. ‘Boston has a deep talent pool which we will leverage to continue to build bench strength and depth in private capital and other strategic growth areas, and in key adjacencies that would contribute to our overall US and global bench strength.’
He added: ‘We will be building out our Boston office and we will make additional announcements highlighting new joiners over the coming months.’
The new office in Boston is Freshfields’ fourth in the United States, where the firm opened in New York in 1977, in Washington DC in 1998, and in Silicon Valley/San Francisco in 2020. Together, the firm’s US offices currently house over 400 lawyers, according to its website.
The move comes after other major firms, including Simpson Thacher, Paul Hastings, and Akin, opened offices in Boston over the past two years. Legacy magic circle firm A&O also opened a Boston office in 2022.
When asked about potential future US office openings, Reenan explained: ‘We continue to monitor the market and our business to ensure that we can serve our clients on their most strategic matters where they need us the most. That doesn’t necessarily require us to open new offices, and we have no current plans to do so beyond Boston.’
The new office opening comes as Freshfields has made significant investments in the US in recent years. Its LLP accounts, released earlier this month, reveal a 26% increase in US revenues, from £311m to £391m, making it the firm’s fastest-growing region.
Recent US hires include private equity M&A expert Ian Bushner, who joined with Reenan from Latham in New York, as well as former Federal Trade Commissioner Christine Wilson, who joined in Washington DC in February 2024.
Paul Kukish, global co-chair of Latham’s M&A and private equity practice said: ‘We wish Matt the best in his new role and are excited about our momentum at the start of 2025 and the opportunity to build on the phenomenal year we had last year, with our M&A and PE practices topping the league tables in the US and globally across industries.’
