Another partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz has left the firm, in the latest in a series of prominent departures from the Wall Street stalwart.
Legal 500 Hall of Fame tax partner Deborah Paul has moved to Sidley Austin, where she will co-head the firm’s tax practice.
The move comes a little over a month after a six-partner team, led by former firm co-chair William Savitt, left Wachtell for Gibson Dunn earlier in the summer.
Commenting on Paul’s arrival, Nancy Chung, New York managing partner at Sidley, said: ‘As we continue to expand our M&A and private equity capabilities in New York, Debbie brings sophisticated tax experience that will be a tremendous addition to the office.’
Paul brings experience advising on the tax aspects of a range of transactions across sectors including media and entertainment, energy and natural resources, technology, healthcare, financial services and more. She has advised on significant strategic acquisitions, private equity transactions and corporate separations.
‘Debbie’s experience advising on many of the market’s largest and most complex public company and PE transactions with further strengthen our tax practice and create significant opportunities for collaborations across our transactional platform,’ Brian Fahrney chair of Sidley’s executive committee said.
The group that left Wachtell in July, led by Savitt, were all litigators. But the firm has also seen a number of departures from its transactional and finance practices this year.
In January, corporate partner Alison Preiss left for Simpson Thacher. Emily Johnson and Mark Stagliano, finance and M&A partners respectively, moved to Latham & Watkins in February, and restructuring and finance chair Joshua Feltman moved to Kirkland & Ellis in April.
From January this year, Wachtell made changes to its compensation model, stretching the ratio between top and bottom earners from 3:1 to 6:1, while also giving the remuneration committee greater ability to flex pay outside the confines of its traditional lockstep.
Wachtell remains the most profitable law firm in the world, with an average profit per equity partner of over $12m. The firm has five tax partners remaining, according to its website, including Jodi Schwartz, who is also in the Legal 500 Hall of Fame for non-contentious tax.
