With just 12 partners in London, Davis Polk’s approach to recruitment in the capital has been conservative to say the least.
Until last year, the US firm had not made a London lateral hire since 2013. However, that all changed in 2024 with the additions of A&O Shearman private equity partner Gordon Milne and Luke McDougall, the former global co-head of finance at Paul Hastings.
Those hires, which were prompted by the acknowledgement of a need to scale up in London, were quickly followed by Sidley restructuring duo Mark Knight and Jifree Cader, who have joined to launch a new City offering for the firm.
For more, see ‘With an open checkbook, they’ll likely target top talent’ – Davis Polk London scale-up turns heads
The duo, who now co-head the European restructuring practice, told LB that the opportunity to build a practice from the ground up in London – in tandem with the firm’s top-tier US practice – was too good to turn down.
‘This was a fantastic opportunity to launch a restructuring practice at an elite firm, and for us, this is the right move,’ says Knight.
Cader and Knight joined Sidley in 2016 and 2019 respectively, after having previously worked together at Kirkland & Ellis. Before moving to Sidley, Knight also spent almost two years as general counsel at KKR-backed investment firm Pillarstone.
‘While we had already built a practice together at Sidley, we feel we could build something even better at Davis Polk,’ adds Cader. ‘It was one of the last top-tier US law firms that hadn’t yet made a major entry into restructuring in London, which made it very attractive to us.’
It is understood that five Sidley associates are set to join Knight and Cader at Davis Polk, with one making the move up to counsel.
The duo, who are both recognised as Legal 500 leading partners for restructuring, represent private equity firms, hedge funds, and other distressed debt and par investors. In 2023, they won the Restructuring Team of the Year award at the Legal Business Awards for their role advising China Fortune Land on the $4.96bn restructuring of offshore debt through an English scheme of arrangement.
On the rationale for the move, market observers note that while Davis Polk’s restructuring practice has traditionally been more lender focused, Knight and Cader have had notable success with debtor side mandates in recent years, advising Chinese real estate developer Sino Ocean on its English restructuring plan and Hong Kong scheme of arrangement, as well as acting for Sunac China Holdings on its $10.2bn offshore debt restructuring.
Knight elaborates: ‘We’ve always had a diversified business, covering all the key stakeholders in a restructuring context, including senior and junior creditors, sponsors, strategics, as well as acting for debtors.
‘The balance of our practice has shifted year on year to match the evolving restructuring landscape and the opportunities that arose in the market and across the platform,’ he adds, while also noting that a number of their clients were already Davis Polk clients too.
And Cader is bullish on their prospects for success. ‘Davis Polk launching a restructuring practice in London will be a major disruptive event,’ he predicts. ‘As we build and scale up, our goal is to drive that disruption and deliver on our ambitions.’
Views from the market are also largely positive, with Freddie Lawson, head of partner search at Montresor Legal, describing the pair as ‘the real deal’.
‘It’s a super impressive hire by Davis Polk,’ Lawson continues. ‘There’s a generational shift in the restructuring market, and Davis Polk have managed to land two guys who are the future.’
Finding the right fit
The firm’s tier 1 US restructuring practice, which is led from New York by global co-heads Marshall Huebner and Damian Schaible, now comprises 13 partners, with the addition of Knight and Cader bringing global lawyer count to 80.
Schaible told LB that discussions about expanding the restructuring team in London started roughly five years ago.
‘A few years ago we went on a listening tour, speaking with our clients and contacts in London about their needs in European restructuring, and speaking with our partners in London to really understand the market,’ he says. ‘I probably flew back and forth 10 times over the past few years – we wanted to get it right.’
While a considered recruitment policy is to be applauded, some in the market have questioned why the firm has taken longer than most US peers to make a move into the European restructuring scene, despite launching an English law practice over 13 years ago.
‘Davis Polk could have launched their restructuring practice years ago – they had the backing and could have attracted plenty of key players,’ comments one London restructuring head at another US firm. ‘However, I think they were focused on finding the right fit, and they’ve found that in Jifree and Mark.’
As Schaible explains, the hires of Knight and Cader will complement the firm’s other recent London laterals, who have joined a team led by Europe head and City M&A chief Will Pearce. With the latest additions, overall headcount in London is now up by over 25% on this time last year to move above 60.
‘We already had a fantastic group of corporate lawyers in London – which is critical to a successful restructuring practice,’ Schaible asserts. ‘With the firm’s broad commitment to making significant additional investments in our London platform, particularly in finance and PE, this was the right time to launch our European practice.’
