In their first interview since leaving Latham & Watkins, Jayanthi Sadanandan and Sam Hamilton discuss their new roles as global co-heads of Sidley Austin’s leveraged finance practice

‘Sidley wants to provide a best-in-class financial sponsor legal service – Sam and I have built out a practice before and we know how to do this,’ says Sadanandan as she and Hamilton sit down to talk to LB on their first day at Sidley. 

‘This is  an exciting opportunity for us – we have a remit to build and Sidley has been very clear in its commitment to this area.’  

Legal 500 Hall of Famer Hamilton and leading partner Sadanandan, who have worked together for 20 years, joined Sidley this week (1 October) having quit Latham in August after nearly 15 years at the firm.

The pair have joined alongside fellow Latham alumni Fergus O’Domhnaill, Joseph Kimberling and Ben Wright – with all five partners now sitting within Sidley’s global finance practice, and Sadanandan and Hamilton taking up newly created roles leading the leveraged finance offering worldwide. 

The team will focus primarily on building a borrower-side practice for private equity sponsors, corporates and private credit funds, although it may extend to lender work at clients’ request.

 ‘Our focus is on the private equity finance side to better support the private equity platform,’ confirms Sadanandan. ‘As a transactional lawyer my goal is always just to get the deal done but, particularly in challenging market conditions, I think the interests between borrower side and lender side can diverge so it can be more challenging trying to manage both sides.’

Sadanandan, who featured as a deal star in LB’s ‘Alphas Revisited’ feature last year, has worked with clients including Permira, Blackstone, and CVC, while Hamilton’s key clients include Nordic Capital, Advanz Pharma, and Soho House. 

Sidley’s regular PE clients include Apollo Global Management, KKR and Carlyle.

Hamilton says there were two main reasons for choosing to join Sidley.  ‘We know everyone in the market who does our type of law and we felt that Sidley was a firm that has a lot of momentum and we liked the management mindset of wanting to grow in London, which we can help with. Secondly, when we began talks with Sidley, we enjoyed meeting the people and there was a cultural match in terms of how we all think about the world.’  

‘In terms of size and the number of people, we don’t have a specific target in mind. It’s client-driven – if you do a great job, clients give you more work, and other clients will hear about it, creating a snowball effect. We expect that will happen.’

Sadanandan adds: ‘After we were approached, we realised there were a lot of synergies. Sidley is a longstanding law firm with a heritage that goes back 158 years, and we liked how it is a full-service law firm already in London. It already has the pieces in play and what Sidley is looking to do now is deepen the breadth of the bench and the breadth of the offering for their private equity clients.’  

Sidley has been making a concerted push in the lucrative PE space as part of its broader expansion plans, bringing in Ramy Wahbeh as co-leader of the firm’s global private equity practice and co-head of the London corporate group, along with M&A partner Kaisa Kuusk, both of whom joined from Paul Weiss in June of last year.  

Commenting on the hires Sidley management committee chair Yvette Ostolaza says:  ‘I think if you’ve got the right team, then you will be delivering the type of service clients are expecting. And that’s what we’re going to be focused on, a very team-oriented approach that will deliver results for the client; with clients very much at the front and centre of our practice.’

The latest hires take Sidley to more than 200 lawyers in London, including more than 50 partners – meaning the office has grown by nearly a third over the last seven years.

And the expansion is far from over, with Ostolaza highlighting capital markets, high yield, and disputes and investigations as areas for further expansion in London, as well as additional growth in private equity.

There will also be an emphasis on building cross-border teams that serve clients in APAC, the Middle East, and London. ‘We’re speaking to a number of laterals in these areas,’ she comments.  

The plans come after Sidley reported another strong financial performance, with the firm’s total revenues reaching the $3bn mark in 2023, a 6.1% increase from the previous year.

The firm has enjoyed a long streak of revenue increases after making a strategic decision in the mid-2010s, to increase its focus on the private capital sector and Ostolaza says it is on track for another good year.  

‘Our first half of 2024 is off to a roaring start. Transactional activity has increased, disputes has also risen, so we’re expecting to have surpassed all metrics. We’re excited about this team because it’s part of our growth strategy,’ she adds.

In the US, the firm is aiming to strengthen its offices in San Diego, which launched in August, and South Florida and Miami offices, which opened in 2022. Alongside its emphasis on private equity, Ostolaza pointed out that there will also be a strong focus on key industry sectors, including life sciences, healthcare, energy, transportation, technology, media, sports, and entertainment. 

She concludes: ‘We are still in a growth mindset, although we’re established. There’s disruption going on in the legal industry – we’re seeing more and more mergers, and we want to be one of the beneficiaries of this disruption on behalf of our clients. I think we’re going to have another banner year.’

Sadanandan and Hamilton were part of a four-partner team that moved to Latham from White & Case in 2010 in a move that planted the seeds for the Los Angeles-bred firm’s dominance in Europe’s leveraged finance market. 

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