Latham & Watkins has hired a pair of partners into its New York office from Wachtell, bringing its total number of hires from the Wall Street firm over the last year to four.
The West Coast-bred firm has hired Emily Johnson into its banking and private credit and capital markets practices, and Mark Stagliano into its mergers and acquisitions and private equity practice.
Johnson, a Legal 500 next-generation partner for commercial lending in the US, advises public companies, corporate borrowers, and strategic acquirers on the financing aspects of a wide range of transactions, from strategic M&A and carve-outs to liability management exercises, distressed acquisitions, and restructurings.
She made partner at Wachtell in 2019 after joining as an associate in 2010.
Stagliano joins Latham after more than 14 years at Wachtell, where he made partner in 2020. His practice focuses on public company and sponsor-side M&A, as well as securities matters and corporate governance.
‘Emily and Mark are among a select group of highly experienced and incredibly talented practitioners, and we are delighted to welcome them to our firm,’ said Latham chair and managing partner Rich Trobman.
‘Their market-leading practices directly support our strategic focus to advise our clients on complex transactions across the capital structure and high-profile public company M&A.’
The hires follow the additions of M&A partner Zach Podolsky, a top dealmaker who left Wachtell for Latham last June, and John Sobolewski, who joined Latham last February as global head of liability management.
With an all-equity partnership of only 86 in last year’s Global 100, and profit per equity partner (PEP) of over $9m – second only to Kirkland & Elis – Wachtell rarely sees lateral departures.
However, this has begun to shift, with additional recent departures including M&A partner Alison Preiss, who left for Simpson Thacher last month, and Viktor Sapezhnikov, who joined DLA Piper in November as chair of public company M&A and activism.
Wachtell is also one of a shrinking number of firms that still employs a traditional lockstep compensation model, with partners rewarded based on seniority rather than billings. This means that rival firms, which do not tie compensation to length of tenure, can lure partners with offers of higher pay.
Both Latham and Wachtell are top firms for M&A, with both appearing in LSEG’s list of top principal advisers by global deal value for 2025, in second and third place respectively.
Both firms are also involved in one of the biggest ongoing M&A stories of recent months, with Latham advising Paramount on its $108bn hostile bid to acquire Warner Bros, and Wachtell advising Warner Bros on its negotiations around Paramount’s bid and the competing offer from Netflix.
Latham has also made two notable team hires in Europe in recent months, hiring a four-partner PE and M&A team from Freshfields in Germany in December, and a further four partners focused on energy and infrastructure PE from Clifford Chance in Paris earlier this month.
Commenting on her move, Johnson said: ‘Latham is well-known for excellence across financial products, industries, and jurisdictions, and I am delighted to join the firm and contribute to its long-term growth.’
Stagliano said: ‘Latham is a transactional powerhouse that is exceptionally well positioned to capitalize on the increased activity in public M&A. I am delighted to join the firm’s all-star team, and excited to be part of Latham’s ongoing success and growth in New York and beyond.’
