Latham & Watkins and Paul Weiss are among a new group of firms winning spots on EQT’s panel as the PE house finalises its full roster.
LB revealed last month that Europe’s largest buyout shop had appointed a clutch of firms to its ‘platinum’ panel, with EQT now finalising the ‘gold’ panel that will operate alongside it.
Six firms – Freshfields, Ropes & Gray, Simpson Thacher, Clifford Chance, A&O Shearman and Debevoise & Plimpton – were appointed to EQT’s platinum panel.
A further eight firms have now been confirmed on the gold panel, with Latham and Paul Weiss joining Linklaters, Milbank, White & Case, DLA Piper and Swedish firms Mannheimer Swartling and Vinge on the line-up.
Partners said EQT’s panel arrangements are less stringent than traditional corporate panels, with one characterising them as an ‘ongoing relationship where there is mutual investment between fund and adviser.’
Those familiar with the process said firms on the platinum panel have generally worked with EQT for longer, completing a broader range of matters for the organisation across more locations.
A place on the platinum panel is understood to come with greater expectations around flexibility on pricing and delivery, with one partner saying: ‘It’s not just about the dollars, it’s about what you can charge for and where clients want concessions.’
Sources said that while EQT has made expectations around the work individual firms have been appointed to deliver clear, the appointments are not restrictive. One partner said firms on either panel would be able to ‘apply to work on any mandates they feel equipped to deliver.’
Firms on both the platinum and gold panels are expected to be open with EQT about how they are leveraging AI to deliver value.
EQT global general counsel Josefin Nowén Wirkkala has been a vocal advocate of AI, calling it ‘the shift most likely to change how legal work is delivered’ in an article published on EQT’s website this March.
Nowén Wirkkala, who started her career at Vinge before joining EQT in 2012, and became global GC in July 2025, also noted that the PE house separates AI ‘experimentation’ from ‘business-critical work’, adding: ‘We use our partner law firms as part of that ecosystem too: to stress-test approaches and learn together.’
Over the last year, a number of partners regularly advising EQT have moved firms. In December, Freshfields global M&A co-head Wessel Heukamp moved to Latham, with Freshfields then hiring PE M&A partner Daniel Möritz from German firm Hengeler Mueller in June.
In 2024, meanwhile, Taner Hassan, a longtime adviser to EQT, moved from Clifford Chance to Paul Weiss, where he is now head of European leveraged finance. He joined Roger Johnson, Paul Weiss’s global co-chair of M&A and a past EQT adviser, who moved from Kirkland in autumn 2023.
EQT, Latham & Watkins, Linklaters, Paul Weiss, DLA Piper, White & Case, Mannheimer Swartling and Vinge declined to comment. Milbank did not respond to a request for comment.
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