Shortly after the news broke that A&O Shearman would be shutting down its South Africa office, Hogan Lovells has announced it will close three global offices in the coming months.
McDermott Will & Emery is pushing forward with ambitious plans to prioritise its ‘power alley’ transactional practices in London, following the departure of its last remaining private client partners in London.
The firm has been one of the last major US players in London with a private client practice, but following the recent departures of co-heads Nick Holland and Simon Gibb to Maples and Trowers & Hamlins respectively, the firm now no longer has any dedicated private client partners left in London.
Continue reading “McDermott sets sights on big-hitters in London as private client team moves on”
Cooley has moved to bolster its London ranks following a number of recent senior departures with the hire of a trio of partners from Taylor Wessing, Goodwin and White & Case.
The US firm has recruited Angus Miln, Ali Ramadan and Helen Pantelides, all of who will join the emerging companies and venture capital (ECVC) practice in London. The hires come just weeks after Cooley’s London managing partner Justin Stock and two other transactional partners left to join Akin’s London office.
Miln, a Legal 500 Hall of Famer for venture capital, joins Cooley after almost eight years at Taylor Wessing, where he led the VC practice. He also previously worked at Bird & Bird, where he made partner in 2008, as well as Latham & Watkins and Simmons & Simmons.
Pantelides, who made partner at White & Case last year, previously worked alongside Miln at Taylor Wessing before leaving to join the US firm in 2019.
The duo will be joined at Cooley by Legal 500 leading individual Ramadan, also an ex-Bird & Bird partner, who has spent the past five years at Goodwin after a brief stint at Orrick. All three focus on venture capital and high-growth companies , handling the life-cycle of corporate and financing matters for tech and life sciences clients.
London chief Stock, one of the founding partners of Cooley’s London office, quit the firm this summer, moving to US rival Akin with corporate head Stephen Rosen and fellow tech transactions partner David Bresnick.
The city base is now led by capital markets head Claire Keast-Butler and disputes head James Maton.
In a statement, Keast-Butler said: “Angus, Ali and Helen are among London’s most outstanding and well-regarded advisers to emerging companies and the venture capital industry. We are excited about the huge opportunity our expanded ECVC practice in London will bring as we continue to execute on our ambitious growth strategy.”
Keast-Butler has been at the firm since joining from Latham in 2019, while Maton is one of the remaining founding partners of Cooley’s London base, which opened in 2015.
The West Coast leader made a splashy launch in the City that year, taking partners from Morrison & Foerster and legacy Edwards Wildman Palmer to create a 55-lawyer UK practice.
Of the 20 partners who opened that office, just five now remain – Maton, Chris Coulter (tech transactions), Ann Bevitt (employment and privacy), Ryan Naftulin (corporate) and Laurence Harris (disputes).
According to its website, Cooley now has 30 partners in London and around 65 associates and counsel.
The firm recently appointed a new CEO to replace the long-serving Joe Conroy, who had held the position since 2008. Rachel Profitt stepped into the new role this January, with Conroy staying on as chairman.
The Legal Business Commercial Litigation Summit 2024 saw barristers, solicitors, in-house counsel and other professionals in the disputes sector come together to discuss the key issues in today’s commercial litigation market – and how to stay ahead of the game.
The event, which was held at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster, got underway with a panel entitled ‘When litigation is stranger than fiction (and even your partner tolerates you reading out the best bits from the daily transcript)’, led by One Essex Court’s Neil Kitchener KC, who was joined by CMS partner Vanessa Whitman and fellow One Essex Court barristers Sandy Phipps and James Fox. Continue reading “‘It’s not always about winning and losing, it’s about preserving relationships’ – the Commercial Litigation Summit 2024”
Year of qualification: 2003
Hogan Lovells, 2001-06
Weil, Gotshal & Manges, 2006-19
Farview Equity Partners, 2019-24
Paul Hastings, 2023-24
Hg, 2024-present
What do you most enjoy about working in PE?
Private equity is incredibly diverse and dynamic. Even within a very specialist firm like Hg, which focuses only on software and services businesses, the opportunity to engage with different business models and segments is excitingly broad.
Being a lawyer in the private equity industry also offers the opportunity to apply commercial judgement to complex legal problems and be at the cutting edge of market developments. I love the intellectual challenge and the adrenaline of getting a transaction done, but I also enjoy the opportunity to build relationships within our portfolio companies and support them as they grow their businesses.
Why did you decide to switch from private practice to in-house? And what are the biggest differences?
My career has been non-linear. Having been a partner in private practice before co-founding a growth equity investment firm, I then returned to being a partner in private practice before joining Hg – so I actually made the switch twice! I learnt that I thrive in a business environment which is fast-paced and where I can work closely and collaboratively with the other partners to deliver positive outcomes. Working within Hg not only allows me and my team members to be an integral part of the investment teams in a different way from external advisers, it also affords me the opportunity to be part of strategic decision-making at a firm level
You co-founded your own investment firm…what are the lessons you’ve taken from that to your role as GC at Hg?
Co-founding an investment firm was the single biggest learning curve of my career. I learnt the foundational building blocks of how a business generally, and an investment firm more specifically, operates. I also learnt not to be afraid of things that I hadn’t experienced before, or challenges that I was facing for the first time. I became adept at making judgement calls at pace on the best information available and iterating on decisions as fact patterns changed (particularly through Covid), which taught me to always expect the unexpected. Most importantly, I learnt the power of a good network and that if you invest in helping people and keeping in touch with them, the rewards far outweigh the effort of doing so.
What is the biggest challenge as a PE GC?
The biggest challenge of being the GC of a private equity firm is the pace and scale of change. The last 10 years have seen incredible evolution and growth in the private equity industry – Hg itself has transformed from a UK mid-market PE firm to a leading investor in European and transatlantic software and services businesses – and the next ten years have the potential to exceed that. A great GC is at the very heart of helping a private equity firm navigate that evolution and growth – whether in the deployment and return of capital or in assessing firm opportunity and risk.
Would you recommend a career as an in-house PE lawyer? Why?
Yes – for all of the reasons above! In the right firm with a highly collaborative and positive culture like Hg, it can be an incredibly stimulating and rewarding job.
A&O Shearman is set to cut 10% of its partnership, close its South Africa office and end its consulting business, in the firm’s first major reorganisation since it completed its merger this May.
Seladore Legal announced today (5 September) that it has opened its first international office in Milan. The office will be led by Laurence (Larry) Shore, who joined the firm from BonelliErede as a partner earlier this week.
Continue reading “Disputes specialist firm Seladore Legal opens in Milan”
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Limited version Continue reading “Access your pdf edition of LB magazine – issue 321”
Slaughter and May has raised pay for newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers to £150,000, bringing the firm to parity with its Magic Circle peers.
The firm was slated to review its pay rates in November, but has brought the review forward, with the new rate effective from 1 September.
The increase means that Slaughters no longer trails Herbert Smith Freehills and Hogan Lovells, which both announced raises to £135,000 for their NQs in June. Continue reading “Slaughter and May matches magic circle peers with NQ pay hike to £150k”
In the offshore world as elsewhere, tough economic conditions made 2022-23 a rough year. ‘With uncertainty in the global markets, high inflation, and high interest rates, there was a lack of certainty in some corporate areas where companies didn’t necessarily want to deploy their capital,’ says Bedell Cristin group managing partner Tim Pearce.
Appleby group managing partner Malcolm Moller echoes this: ‘The challenges posed by rising inflation, turbulent financial markets, and supply chain disruptions in 2023 highlighted the importance of resilience, flexibility, and proactive planning in navigating the complexities of the global business environment.’ Continue reading “On sure footing – offshore leaders see reasons for optimism”
I nearly drowned in a river in Wales when I was four. It had been raining a lot and the boulder my brother and I were standing on beside the river toppled into the water. I fell into the river and was held under by a waterfall. My mother, father and a passerby all dived in and managed to find me and bring me to the surface. I learnt to swim right after that and now I still swim several times a week and it’s an important part of my fitness. Continue reading “Life During Law: Freshfields’ London head Mark Sansom”
While the legal market is never short of speculation about the next potential merger, last month saw news of an eye-catching deal bringing two parties from very different markets together with a fresh approach. Continue reading “Broadfield of dreams: BDB Pitmans signs up for new Alvarez & Marsal legal venture”
With results continuing to stream in, the initial picture is that the UK’s largest law firms are shrugging off the economic challenges of recent years.
Financial results season is once again in full swing, and the UK’s largest law firms have plenty of reasons to be cheerful, with healthy returns across the board. Continue reading “Financial results 2023-24: early figures point to rosier picture for LB100 leaders”
Fifteen years of Legal 500 data offers big-picture view of Stateside elite’s relentless advance into London private equity arena
Of all the London legal markets to have been upended by competition from across the pond, private equity offers perhaps the strongest evidence of how US firms have made their mark in the City. Continue reading “Private equity, public competition – how US firms reshaped the UK PE hierarchy”
‘The industry has changed massively. When we started, we were working with single product mid-cap PE shops, and these have now developed into mega solo funds, handling tens of billions of dollars. We’re now working with listed clients and multi-product funds that not only have a PE business, but a credit and an infrastructure business,’ says Kirkland & Ellis London private equity partner David Higgins, on the huge changes in the private capital market.
As single strategy private equity funds have morphed into huge multi-asset private capital firms and alternative asset managers over the last 10-15 years, the role of the lawyers working with them has also changed beyond recognition. Continue reading “Elite: The rise of the in-house lawyer in private capital”
‘No-one should be under any illusion that the hours are fewer, or the work less demanding. You don’t have the luxury of working on just one thing; you’re juggling multiple deals, multiple fund formations and perhaps litigation,’ says Carlyle partner, chief risk officer, head of EMEA and global general counsel (GC) for Investments Heather Mitchell of the reality of succeeding in the notoriously tough, deal-driven world of private capital.
If anyone should know about juggling, it’s Mitchell, who currently holds not just one role at the $425bn AUM organisation but three – splitting her time between global GC and chief risk officer for the investment business, as well as overall head of Carlyle EMEA. Continue reading “‘I’ve called firms and asked why someone isn’t a partner yet’ – the female GCs shaking up PE”
What does it take to run the legal team in one of the most profitable deal shops in the world? After months of discussions with private equity and leveraged finance partners at the leading law firms in London as well as a host of in-house lawyers, Legal Business has come up with the definitive list of the top London-based private equity GCs, with 24 making the grade.
Continue reading “The Private Equity Elite: the top general counsel in PE”
‘Challenging market conditions’ – a quick search of the LB news archives finds that phrase, or some variation of it, coming up time and time again over the years.
But while the legal industry has faced many challenges since the turn of the century, from the global financial crisis to Brexit, Covid and beyond, the good times have, in the main, outweighed the bad, with resourceful firms turning adversity into opportunity. Continue reading “Rising to the challenge – tough market rewards for firms with clearest focus”
