Weil has hired a banking and finance partner into its New York office, bringing in Damian Ridealgh three years after he left the firm for Freshfields.
Ridealgh brings particular experience in the increasingly active areas of capital solutions, special situations, and liability management transactions – key areas of focus for Weil.
Commenting on the hire, corporate chair Michael Aiello said: ‘Damian is an accomplished creditor-side lawyer with deep experience in distressed situations, direct lending and liability management.
‘He brings a substantive skill set that spans both transactional and restructuring work, allowing him to serve clients across the full range of their needs.’
However, the news comes amid a raft of exits for Weil in New York, including US private funds practice co-head Stephanie Epstein Srulowitz, who moved to Simpson Thacher, and co-head of PE and management committee member Christopher Machera, who joined Paul Weiss.
DLA Piper has also made a hire from Weil, bringing in Brian Gingold as its New York PE co-lead. Gingold spent just under a decade at Weil, joining as a partner from Gibson Dunn in 2017.
Also in New York, Paul Weiss has hired investment funds partner Eric Perelman.
Perelman has been a partner at Kirkland & Ellis for nearly seven years, joining from Morgan Lewis in 2019, where he was an associate. He brings experience advising private funds and alternative asset managers on a range of regulatory and compliance matters.
Global investment funds group co-head Marco Masotti said: ‘We are excited to welcome Eric, who will enhance our team’s funds regulatory capabilities. His fluency across funds-related regulatory and compliance matters will be a tremendous asset to our clients as they navigate their most critical issues.’
The move comes as the firm continues to build its New York bench, hiring capital markets partners Peter Byrne from Cooley and Tristan VanDeventer last month, from Cooley and Ropes & Gray respectively.
Jones Day has also made a New York funds hire, bringing in Ariele Cohen from McDermott Will & Schulte. Cohen joined legacy Schulte Roth & Zabel as a counsel in 2022 after more than a decade in-house, first at AIG and then at Prudential Financial.
A&O Shearman has made a pair of partner hires into its US offices, bringing in partners in Washington DC and Texas.
In the capital, the firm has hired antitrust partner Ana Kertesz, who joined from White & Case. Kertesz spent the majority of her career at her previous firm, joining as a senior associate in 2005 and returning as a counsel in 2015 after three years as an attorney at the Federal Trade Commission.
In Austin, A&O Shearman has hired M&A and PE partner Steven Tyndall from Morrison Foerster, where he spent four and a half years as a partner after joining in 2022 from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.
Also active in the capital is Paul Hastings, which has made a pair of hires into its DC antitrust practice, bringing in Lisa DeMarchi Sleigh and Charles Ramsey.
DeMarchi Sleigh joins after nearly two decades at the Federal Trade Commission, including three years as deputy assistant director of the Mergers I Division. She joined the FTC in 2007 after just under six years at Reed Smith, where she was an associate.
‘Lisa is a powerhouse,’ said Paul Hastings chair Frank Lopez of the hire, adding: ‘Continuing to build our Antitrust & Competition practice remains a key priority for the growth of our broader private equity and public M&A platform.’
Ramsey, meanwhile, joins from Freshfields, where he spent four and a half years as a special counsel. Before that he spent two years at the Department of Justice (DOJ), where he was an attorney advisor in the Antitrust Division’s Competition Policy & Advocacy Section.
Proskauer has hired Jamie Santos as its compensation and benefits litigation practice co-chair, also in Washington DC. Santos joins from Goodwin, where she spent 13 years, making partner in 2019.
Boies Schiller Flexner has hired Stuart McCommas as a partner in its litigation and crisis management group.
McCommas joins BSF’s Washington DC office from DOJ, where he was chief of staff and senior counsellor, with responsibilities including managing the attorney general’s office and leading on congressional oversight strategy and crisis management.
Before this he spent a year in the White House as deputy counsel to the president, from January to December 2025.
Kirkland & Ellis has hired litigation partner Aaron Katz in Boston. A first-chair trial lawyer, Katz joins from Aaron Katz Law, the trial boutique he founded in 2022 after leaving Ropes & Gray, where he had spent nearly two decades.
The firm has also hired litigation partner Prerak Shah in its Houston office.
Shah joins from Gibson Dunn, where he made partner in January this year. He previously spent two and a half years at DOJ, and before that worked as chief of staff and chief counsel to US Senator Ted Cruz.
Linklaters has also been active in disputes, bringing litigation partner Erik Haas into its New York office.
Haas joins from Johnson & Johnson, where he was worldwide vice president of litigation. He spent nearly three decades at New York firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, including as litigation lead, before leaving for J&J in 2020.
Global head of litigation, arbitration, and investigations Alison Wilson said of the hire: ‘Few litigators have been entrusted with the scale and complexity of matters Erik has led, and his arrival further strengthens our ability to deliver sophisticated US advice through a global platform.’
Haas is the fourth New York litigator that Linklaters has hired in the last month, following its hires of Paul Weiss sports disputes partners Christopher Boehning and Daniel Levi in July, and its hire last month of César Rivière, who was an associate at Paul Weiss.
Sidley Austin has hired a team of four energy and infrastructure partners from Winston Taylor, including former co-chair of the project finance practice, co-chair of the energy and infrastructure industry group, and executive committee member Michael Pikiel, who joins Sidley in New York.
Also making the move is Richard Puttré – who chaired Winston Taylor’s projects practice in Latin America, and joins Sidley in Miami – as well as energy transactions partners Tom Millar in Washington DC and Patrick Selinger in Houston.
Sidley has also hired tax partner Michael Alcan to its Century City office. Alcan joins from Kirkland & Ellis, where he has been a partner since 2019.
For its part, Winston Taylor has hired litigation lawyer John Mitchell as a partner in its Chicago office, where he will join the firm’s investigations and white-collar defence practice.
Mitchell previously spent time in government roles, including as a senior attorney in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Enforcement Division, and assistant US attorney in the Northern District of Illinois.
He joins Winston Taylor from Willkie, where he spent three years as a counsel.
Davis Polk has grown its New York team with the hire of Ropes & Gray PE partner Todd Kornreich.
Kornreich specialises in working with clients across the transportation, manufacturing and industrial areas. He joined Ropes & Gray in 2015 and made partner in 2021, and co-led the firm’s transportation and logistics sector group.
Also in New York, McDermott Will & Schulte has hired capital markets partner Sina Hekmat from Hogan Lovells Cadwalader. Hekmat was previously a partner at legacy Hogan Lovells for more than 20 years.
O’Melveny has hired corporate restructuring partner David Botter from Cleary Gottlieb in New York. Botter brings nearly three decades of experience in a range of complex restructuring matters. He joined Cleary in 2023 after more than 22 years as a partner at Akin.
Norton Rose Fulbright has made a pair of partner hires, adding to its benches in New York and Chicago.
The firm has hired Steve Olenick as its US head of sports capital and transactions and its New York head of private equity. Olenick joins from Mintz.
NRF has also hired Crowell & Moring’s former Chicago office managing partner Jason Stiehl, who joins the product liability and consumer disputes practice.
Also in Chicago, McGuireWoods has hired insurance recovery partner Andrew Barrios. Barrios joins after seven years at Reed Smith, where he made partner in 2024.
On the West Coast, Skadden has hired Orrick banking and finance head Zachary Finley into its Palo Alto office. Finley is an Orrick lifer, having joined the firm in 2001 as an associate and made partner in 2014.
Morgan Lewis has hired White & Case’s global co-head of life sciences and healthcare, Andres Liivak, in Boston. Liivak has co-led the practice group since 2025, after joining the firm from NRF in 2019.
Simpson Thacher has hired tax partner Jonathan Westreich from Sidley in Los Angeles. Westreich has been at the firm for over a decade, joining as a summer associate in 2015 and making partner at the end of last year.
The firm has also hired M&A lawyer Erik Elsea from Skadden in Washington DC, where he was a counsel. Elsea joins Simpson Thacher as a partner.
Also in Los Angeles, Akin has hired PE partner Kimberly Rowe. Rowe returns to the firm after four years at The Walt Disney Company, where she was lead counsel for corporate transactions. She left Akin in 2022, after making partner there that year.
Sheppard Mullin has hired tech M&A partner Heather Bethancourt from McDermott in Dallas. Bethancourt spent more than a decade at the firm, joining legacy McDermott Will & Emery as a partner in 2015 from K&L Gates, where she was an associate.
Bethancourt joins the firm alongside PE M&A lawyer Linda Zeman in London, who moves from Simmons & Simmons. Zeman joins Sheppard as partner, following two years as a counsel at Simmons.
