Latham & Watkins has made a major addition to its M&A practice in New York with the hire of Wachtell partner Zach Podolsky (pictured), marking a rare corporate exit from the elite Wall Street firm.
Podolsky is following his former Wachtell colleague John Sobolewski, who moved to Latham in February, joining as global head of liability management and vice chair of capital markets.
According to data provider MergerLinks, Podolsky was the second most active M&A partner in the US in 2024, leading on seven deals with a total value of almost $70bn. These included co-leading the teams advising ConocoPhillips on its $22.5bn acquisition of Marathon Oil (opposite Kirkland & Ellis), and Diamondback Energy on its $26bn acquisition of Endeavor Energy Partners (opposite Paul Weiss and Vinson & Elkins).
Latham chair Rich Trobman said in a statement: ‘We are focused on serving the needs of our deep and growing client base of public companies as they navigate an increasingly complex and competitive landscape, and Zach’s track record of managing sophisticated transactions further enhances our position as one of the world’s elite M&A firms.’
Elsewhere, Paul Hastings has continued its ambitious energy and infrastructure buildout with the hire of partner Christopher Richardson in Houston. Richardson spent the last year as chief executive and board member at climate technology company 8 Rivers Capital. Before that he spent six years at White & Case, including as head of the energy and infrastructure projects section for the Americas.
Richardson is the eighth energy and infrastructure partner Paul Hastings has recruited since April, following a series of hires from White & Case across Europe and the Middle East.
In the latest instance of partners departing firms to have done deals with US President Donald Trump, Cooley has picked up seven litigation partners from Willkie’s San Francisco office, including office managing partners Benedict Hur and Simona Agnolucci.
The other partners making the move are Joshua Anderson, Tiffany Lin, Jonathan Patchen, Michael Rome and Eduardo Santacana.
Willkie is one of a number of firms to have agreed a deal with Trump, pledging pro bono work for causes the administration supports in exchange for protection from punitive action against the firm.
The group’s move is further evidence of a pattern of litigators leaving firms that have done deals with Trump, including Cadwalader, where litigator Ellen Holloman has left the firm’s New York office for Kaplan Martin, the litigation boutique established in July 2024 by trial lawyer Roberta Kaplan.
Kaplan is well-known for her lead role on the landmark same-sex marriage case United States v Windsor, as well as representing columnist E. Jean Carroll in her defamation suit against Trump.
Holloman spent nearly eight years at Cadwalader as a partner, and her departure follows the exits of white-collar partners Phara Guberman and Kenneth Breen for Foley & Lardner last month.
Akin has made two hires from Mayer Brown in Chicago, bringing over M&A partner Joshua La Vigne and investment management partner Jessica Pan. Pan was a counsel at Mayer Brown, while La Vigne made partner there in January 2024.
The hires come just over a month after Akin brought over Mayer Brown global private funds and investment management practice co-lead Wendy Dodson Gallegos and infrastructure M&A partner Jason Wagenmaker, also in Chicago.
Finally, Fenwick & West has hired partner Jim Hauser into its executive compensation and employee benefits practice in Boston. Hauser joins from Silicon Valley-headquartered firm Gunderson Dettmer, where he spent ten years as a partner, including as co-head of the Boston executive compensation practice.
His hire sees Fenwick expand the Boston office it launched in April with its hire of IP partners Matthew Pavao, Heidi Erlacher and Chen Chen from Cooley.
