The City private equity recruitment market has shown no signs of slowing down for the summer, with major moves including White & Case’s hire of Helen Croke from Ropes & Gray, Morrison Foerster taking two partners from Herbert Smith Freehills, and Sullivan & Cromwell this week announcing its surprise hire of ex-Weil heavyweight Mike Francies.
Latham & Watkins made one of the biggest recent splashes, bringing in White & Case dealmaker Ross Allardice to add further heft to its sizeable London team.
In addition to its strength in London, the US firm – one of just four firm ranked in Legal 500’s top-tier for high value PE deals – argues that the breadth of its platform across Europe gives its a clear edge over its rivals.
‘We’re in a unique position between the magic circle and European-heritage firms on the one hand, and the US-heritage firms on the other’, says global corporate department vice chair Tom Evans (pictured above right).
‘We have a group of 17 partners in London who do nothing but private equity work, but we also have partners in key European markets who do the same thing – as well as partners who are specialists in a range of key practices in their local markets, who are literate in high-value multijurisdictional PE deals,’ he adds.
Evans – who has now been at the firm for over 11 years after joining from Clifford Chance with fellow PE partner Kem Ihenacho (pictured above left) in 2014 – argues that it is this profile that makes Latham unique: its combination of PE expertise across key European markets and capabilities across those local matters.
Legal 500 private equity rankings in UK, US, and core European markets
Of all the firms ranked in Legal 500’s top two tiers for high-value PE deals in London, only Latham also has tier 1 rankings for PE in the US, Germany, France and Italy.
Kirkland & Ellis comes closest to matching it, with top-tier rankings in the US, France and Germany, and while the magic circle firms do have well established presences across core European markets, Freshfields is the only UK-heritage firm with a US ranking for PE.
Evans argues that rival firms have a struggle on their hands to replicate Latham’s profile: ‘European markets are tougher, there’s not the same dealflow as there is in the US or London, so talent is more concentrated.’
Latham has built its offices around practices that support high-value transactional work. Antitrust, for example, is increasingly recognised as a must-have for firms doing top deal work. ‘The deals that are happening now are increasingly challenging’, says Evans. ‘Antitrust issues come to the surface very early, and navigating regulatory hurdles is a key part of the process.’
This applies equally to more narrow areas that are unique to local markets. ‘The diversity of legal systems in Europe presents an interesting challenge for investors’, says Evans. ‘If you think just about labour issues as an example – works councils in France and across the continent, defined benefits pensions schemes in the UK, reclassification issues and difficulties with equity grants in a number of jurisdictions – it’s become imperative to have specialist expertise that is private equity and private capital literate, in-depth, and across jurisdictions.
‘Working with external counsel, who may take a more or less conservative view on an issue, risks adding an unnecessary layer of friction for client’s deals.’
Ihenacho, former private equity and investment funds practice vice chair and current member of the firm’s executive committee, agrees: ‘The major advantage that we have is that our colleagues in places like Madrid and Milan have a deep understanding of the local market, but they also speak the language of private equity.’
‘We’re always hungry’
Latham has placed its bet on what kind of firm works best, favouring large scale and broad coverage, without the need to rely on relationship firms in local markets for crucial deal-related matters, but avoiding the temptation to set up a completely full-service offering in all markets.
‘You don’t have to do everything in every jurisdiction’, says Ihenacho. ‘But you do have to have the specialist, PE-literate expertise in place to meet challenging client needs, now and in the future.’
The results of this approach are underlined by deal data. Latham ranked first in LSEG’s 2024 ranking of legal advisors by total European PE deal value, with 179 deals worth a total of $84.3bn, and 23% market share. The firm also ranked second in LSEG’s H1 2025 ranking of legal advisors for M&A deals with any UK involvement.
Looking ahead, Latham aims to maintain its position with coverage across the ever-broader world of private capital. ‘We’re expanding not just in pure private equity, but across the wider private capital universe, in areas like special situations, private credit, infrastructure finance, and alternative liquidity opportunities’, says Evans. ‘As the breadth of products available to clients increases, the opportunity to offer more and more to our clients is huge.’
The firm’s growth will include both internal promotions and lateral hires. Evans says: ‘We’re always hungry to meet with people who share our culture and will succeed on our platform.’
In particular, he points to infrastructure, technology, healthcare and life sciences as key growth sectors, as well as energy transition, financial services, and data centres.
And while Latham is satisfied with its results, the firm knows that it needs to keep moving to stay on top. ‘We’re not complacent’, says Ihenacho. ‘We’re not done.’
