Good morning,
Last week's BigLaw lateral activity was dominated by fund formation and private equity hires, with Proskauer making the week's largest single move by adding four leveraged finance partners from Cahill Gordon & Reindel, while Littler brought in five shareholders from Jackson Lewis in San Juan. Sullivan & Cromwell continued its aggressive recruiting by welcoming three partners, including former Fox Corp. chief legal officer Viet Dinh and Arnold & Porter antitrust partner Sonia Kuester Pfaffenroth. Kirkland & Ellis was the most-departed platform this week, losing named partners to Paul Weiss, Cooley, Winston Taylor, and Holland & Hart.
On the executive side, CVC Capital Partners announced a leadership overhaul, naming Peter Rutland and hiring TPG President Todd Sisitsky as co-CEOs to succeed Rob Lucas by Q1 2028. Blackstone lost global real estate head Nadeem Meghji, while Adobe named Anil Chakravarthy to succeed Shantanu Narayen as CEO. Charter Communications CFO Jessica Fischer is departing to join a Blackstone-Google AI venture, underscoring how technology is pulling finance talent away from traditional corporate roles.
Now, on to what matters for your practice today.
BigLaw Moves Sentiment
Fund formation and private equity continue to be the hottest practice areas in the lateral market, with firms building out dedicated teams to serve sponsors flush with dry powder.
The concentration of antitrust hires at Sullivan & Cromwell, Paul Hastings, A&O Shearman, and Winston Taylor signals growing demand for regulatory clearance work as deal flow recovers.
The number of in-house-to-BigLaw moves this week, including from Morgan Stanley, Walt Disney, Johnson & Johnson, Meta, Fox Corp., and Northrop Grumman, suggests that experienced industry counsel remain high-value lateral targets for firms building sector-specific advisory practices.
BigLaw Moves
A few quick patterns worth noting: This week saw approximately 45 firms welcoming over 80 new partners. Proskauer and Littler each welcomed the most partners this week, while Kirkland & Ellis saw the most named departures. Fund formation and private equity practices accounted for the largest share of moves, with eight firms adding investment funds or fund formation partners. Antitrust also saw significant activity, with five named lateral hires across four firms.
Antitrust and Competition
Sonia Kuester Pfaffenroth joined Sullivan & Cromwell as an antitrust partner in New York. She previously was with Arnold & Porter.
Lisa DeMarchi Sleigh joined Paul Hastings as an antitrust partner and co-head of its compensation and benefits litigation practice in New York. She previously was with Goodwin.
Charles Ramsey joined Paul Hastings as an antitrust partner in New York.
Anna Kertesz joined A&O Shearman as an antitrust partner in New York. She previously was with White & Case.
John Thornburgh joined Winston Taylor as an antitrust partner in Chicago. He previously was with Fisher Phillips.
Banking and Leverage Finance
Bill Miller, Brian Kelleher, Stephen Harper, and Christopher Bevan joined Proskauer as partners in its global finance practice in New York. They previously were with Cahill Gordon & Reindel.
Stanimir Kostov joined Alston & Bird as a finance partner in New York. He previously was with Octus.
Zachary Finley joined Skadden as a finance partner in London.
Bankruptcy and Restructuring
David Botter joined O'Melveny as a bankruptcy and restructuring partner in New York. He previously was with Cleary Gottlieb.
Mark Eckard joined Womble Bond Dickinson as a restructuring partner.
Capital Markets
Joze Vranicar joined Sullivan & Cromwell as a partner in its capital markets group in New York.
Jean Park joined Paul Hastings as a partner in its capital markets practice in New York and Silicon Valley.
Sina Hekmat joined McDermott Will & Schulte as a partner in its capital markets group, forming a new practice focusing on cross-border capital markets in the US and Europe.
Corporate M&A
Bethany Pfalzgraf joined Freshfields as a partner in its mergers and acquisitions practice in New York.
Todd Kornreich joined Davis Polk as a private equity M&A partner in New York. He previously was with Ropes & Gray.
Kimberly Rowe rejoined Akin as a corporate partner in Los Angeles. She previously served as corporate counsel at Walt Disney.
Emma Dowell joined Holland & Knight as a corporate M&A partner in Tysons, Virginia. She previously was with Hogan Lovells Cadwalader.
Nicola Yeomans joined King & Spalding as an M&A partner in Singapore. She previously was with Mallesons.
Brad Drake joined Foley & Lardner as a corporate partner in New York. He previously was with Paul Hastings.
Heather Bethancourt joined Sheppard as a corporate partner in Los Angeles.
Linda Zeman joined Sheppard as a corporate partner in Atlanta. She previously was with Simmons & Simmons.
Kyle Pine joined Foley & Lardner as a corporate partner in Boston.
Cybersecurity and Data Privacy
Logan Booth joined Ogletree Deakins as a cybersecurity partner in Chicago.
Energy & Infrastructure
Erik Elsea joined Simpson Thacher as an energy and infrastructure partner in New York. He previously was with Skadden.
Amanda Shafer Berman joined Jenner & Block as an energy partner in New York. She previously was with Crowell.
Sebastián Villaveces joined Foley Hoag as an energy and climate partner in New York. He previously was with Convergent Energy and Power.
Insurance
Yuliya Feldman joined Troutman Pepper Locke as a partner in its insurance transactional and regulatory practice group in New York. She previously was with Mayer Brown.
Gary Anderson joined DLA Piper as an insurance partner in Boston. He previously was with Goodwin.
International Trade
Jeremy Huffman joined K&L Gates as an international trade partner in New York. He previously was with Northrop Grumman.
Tyler Wood joined Squire Patton Boggs as an international trade and foreign investment partner in New York. He previously was with Freshfields.
IP Litigation
Brandy Worden joined Katten as a partner in its intellectual property practice in Los Angeles. She previously served as counsel at Meta.
Daniel Schnapp joined Ashurst Perkins Coie as an IP partner in New York. He previously was with Dentons.
Finnegan added IP partners from McDermott Will & Schulte in Dallas.
Labor and Employment
Lauren Emery joined Troutman Pepper Locke as a labor and employment partner in Chicago.
Juan Felipe Santos and four other attorneys joined Littler as shareholders in San Juan. They previously were with Jackson Lewis.
Jaime Rodríguez Eguiarte joined Fisher Phillips as a labor and employment partner in Mexico City. He previously was with Ibarra Gallego.
Life Sciences
Andrea Devoe joined Freshfields as a life sciences partner in Boston. She previously was with Flagship Pioneering.
Andres Liivak joined Morgan Lewis as a life sciences transactions partner in Boston. He previously was with White & Case.
Litigation
Sean Sandoloski rejoined Willkie as a partner in its litigation department in Washington, D.C. He is a former Supreme Court clerk to Justice Kavanaugh.
Erik Haas joined Linklaters as a litigation partner in New York. He previously was with Johnson & Johnson.
Phil Bowman joined King & Spalding as a business litigation partner in New York. He previously was with Cooley.
Jade Faysal Jurdi joined Akerman as a litigation partner in Los Angeles. She previously was with Steptoe.
Drew Greene joined Buchalter as a litigation partner in Atlanta. He previously was with Chamberlain Hrdlicka.
David Friedman joined Stoel Rives as a litigation partner in San Francisco. He previously was with Stris & Maher.
Dustin Greene joined Foley & Lardner as a commercial litigation partner.
Private Equity
Eric Perelman joined Paul Weiss as a partner in its Investment Funds Group within the Corporate Department in New York. He previously was with Kirkland & Ellis.
Michael Black joined Cooley as a partner in its fund formation practice in Chicago. He previously was with Kirkland & Ellis.
Ariele Cohen joined Jones Day as a partner focused on private investment funds in New York. She previously was with McDermott Will & Schulte.
Nathan Noh joined Reed Smith as a partner in the global corporate group in Los Angeles, focusing on fund formation. He previously was with Cravath.
Christopher Pristouris joined Winston Taylor as a partner in its private capital and funds practice in New York. He previously was with Kirkland & Ellis.
Ari Feder joined DLA Piper as a partner in its investment funds practice in New York.
Stephanie Epstein Srulowitz joined Simpson Thacher as an investment funds partner in New York. She previously was with Weil,.
Luke Charleston joined Milbank as a partner in its alternative investments practice in New York. He previously was with Akin Gump.
Real Estate
McCall Grimes joined Winstead as a real estate development and investments partner in Houston. She previously was with The Dinerstein Companies.
Regulatory
Caroline Crenshaw joined Venable as a partner in Washington, D.C. She is a former commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, where she served for almost six years, drawing on more than 15 years of experience at the SEC and in private practice.
Structured Finance
Mandeep Lotay joined Paul Weiss as a structured finance partner in Atlanta.
Tax
Jonathan Westreich joined Simpson Thacher as a partner in its tax practice in Los Angeles.
Deborah Paul joined Sidley as co-head of its tax practice in New York. She previously was with Wachtell.
Michael Farrell joined Holland & Hart as a tax partner in Salt Lake City. He previously was with Kirkland & Ellis.
Trust and Estates and Wealth Management
David Joyslin joined Cozen O'Connor as a wealth management partner in Minneapolis. He previously was with Best & Flanagan.
Phoebe Moffatt joined Clark Hill as a trust and estates partner in Scottsdale. She previously was with Moffatt Law.
White Collar Crime and Government Investigations
Della Sentilles joined Steptoe as a partner in its investigations, white-collar defense and compliance group in New York. She previously was with Morgan Stanley.
Viet Dinh joined Sullivan & Cromwell as a partner. He previously served as Fox Corp.'s chief legal officer, stepping down nearly three years ago after the company made the largest payout ever in a media defamation case.
David Herzog joined Greenberg Traurig as a partner in Los Angeles. He is a former federal prosecutor who previously was with Holland & Knight.
Danny Grooms joined Freshfields as a white-collar litigation partner in Washington, D.C.
Justin Simeone joined DLA Piper as a cross-border investigations partner in New York. He previously was with Freshfields.
Paige Nutini joined Litson in Wilmington. She is a former federal prosecutor who previously was with Raines Feldman.
Corporate Moves Sentiment
The CVC-TPG leadership reshuffle and Blackstone's real estate departure are the headline moves this week, but the real signal is the clustering of CIO and CTO appointments at GXO Logistics, Centene, Staar Surgical, Merit Financial Advisors, American Healthcare REIT, Datamaran, and Immunic.
Companies across healthcare, logistics, and financial services are creating new technology leadership roles, particularly around AI, data strategy, and digital transformation. For law firms, these appointments suggest growing demand for technology transactions, data privacy, and AI governance advisory work.
The Charter Communications CFO departure to a Blackstone-Google AI joint venture is a data point worth watching as alternative asset managers pull senior corporate finance talent into AI-driven ventures.
Corporate Moves
Investment Banking
D.A. Davidson added Tim Meyer (from TD Cowen) and Ted Speyer (from Stout Investment Banking) to its capital advisory group as managing directors.
JPMorgan is adding David Blais as a managing director of health-care investment banking from Guggenheim Securities.
Merit Financial Advisors named John Rajes as CTO. He previously held leadership roles at LPL Financial, UBS, Barclays, and Goldman Sachs.
Moelis & Co. hired Greg Guest as a managing director in the private capital advisory group from Capital One.
Truist Financial added Cem Altuntas as head of insurance brokers and services in its investment bank, and Jeffrey Davis as a managing director focused on healthcare.
UBS recruited Dan Bray (from Morgan Stanley) and Tim Hotchandani (from Leerink) for its healthcare group in the Americas.
Asset Managers
Apollo is losing Singapore-based partner Gaurav Pant, a key member of its hybrid strategy in Asia. Pant, who joined Apollo in 2008, will depart at the end of the year.
Asante Capital appointed Alex Ardente as managing director in New York to lead North American fundraising mandates. The firm also recently appointed Robin Seng as managing director in Hong Kong.
Blackstone is losing global real estate head Nadeem Meghji. He will be replaced by David Levine and Giovanni Cutaia.
CVC Capital Partners named President Peter Rutland and hired TPG President Todd Sisitsky to become co-CEOs. The pair will take over by Q1 2028 as Rob Lucas steps back as chief executive. Rutland is a 19-year veteran responsible for credit, insurance, secondaries, and infrastructure. Sisitsky notified TPG of his resignation on September 6.
FPE Capital promoted Ben Cole to partner.
Frazier Healthcare Partners is adding Tom Rogers as a senior partner. Rogers is the former chief strategy officer at McKesson.
Grant Avenue Capital hired Edie Connor as director of executive talent from Oxeon.
HarbourView Equity Partners hired Patrick Morin as managing director of business development from Cambridge Associates.
Infinedi Partners hired Rohan Arora as Principal (from H.I.G. Capital) and Nitish Jindal as Vice President (from Charlesbank Capital Partners).
Menlo Ventures hired Alex Kurland as a partner from Meritech Capital Partners.
Millennium Management hired Alex Saporito to boost its asset-backed finance capabilities as the hedge fund expands into private markets.
NextView Venture Partners transitioned Steph Palmeri from partner to venture partner.
PIMCO named Rick LeBrun as general counsel effective January 1, 2027, succeeding Sung-Hee Suh, who has decided to retire at the end of 2026.
Sequoia Capital added Dev Ittycheria, former CEO of MongoDB, as a senior advisor.
Sofinnova Investments hired Merdad Parsey as an executive partner. He is the former chief medical officer at Gilead.
Tikehau Capital appointed Piero Migliorini as Head of Private Equity Italy and Martino Mauroner as Co-Head of Italy, effective October 1.
TPG lost President Todd Sisitsky, who resigned on September 6 to become co-CEO of CVC Capital Partners.
Warburg Pincus appointed James von Moltke as senior advisor and executive-in-residence. He served as president of Deutsche Bank and as CFO for nine years.
Corporates
Adobe appointed Anil Chakravarthy as President and CEO, effective December 1. He currently serves as President of Adobe’s Customer Experience Orchestration Business and will succeed Shantanu Narayen, who will become Executive Chair.
American Healthcare REIT appointed Jon Crosier as CTO. He joins from Kilroy Realty, where he served as SVP and CTO.
Asbury Automotive Group appointed Wendy Reynolds-Dobbs as SVP and CHRO. She succeeds Jed Milstein, who will stay through year-end to assist with the transition.
Centene appointed Bradley Bolivar as CIO. He most recently served as CIO of Fannie Mae. He succeeds Brian LeClaire, who will retire by the end of October.
Charter Communications appointed Kevin Howard as interim CFO, effective October 15. He succeeds Jessica Fischer, who is leaving to join a joint AI venture between Blackstone and Google (Alphabet).
Datamaran hired Bert Sinnema as CTO. He joins from Eye Security, where he served as VP of engineering.
Graphic Packaging Holding appointed Tatiana Berardinelli as EVP and CHRO. She previously served as CHRO of MultiColor Corporation and worked for PPG Industries and Dow. She succeeds Karel van der Mandele, who served as interim CHRO.
GXO Logistics appointed Balaji Rangaswamy to the newly created role of CIO. He joins from Collins Aerospace (RTX), where he served as VP of digital technology.
Immunic appointed Chitrang Dave as chief data and digital officer, a newly created role. He most recently served as head of enterprise data, AI, and advanced analytics at Avidity Biosciences.
Staar Surgical appointed Ben Park as CTO. He joins from Align Technology, where he served as head of emerging technology.
Heard on the Street
Pirical reported that Am Law 200 firms hired 286 lateral partners with a litigation focus in Q2 2026 alone, more than the next two practice areas combined. Corporate took second with 172 moves, followed by real estate with 83 and banking and finance with 81. New York City (152) and Washington, D.C. (88) together accounted for nearly a third of all Q2 lateral partner moves. Notably, 75% of Q2 hires were sourced from within the Am Law 200, up from 60% in Q1, suggesting firms leaned harder on established BigLaw talent this quarter.
Lateral Link noted that M&A and private equity activity has accelerated significantly in 2026, supported by ample levels of sponsor dry powder, improving financing markets, and a broader rebound in large-cap and middle-market transactions. The recovery in deal flow has translated directly into law firm hiring, particularly for fund formation, leveraged finance, and capital markets talent.
That’s the rundown. See you next where law meets the markets.
-The BigLaw Markets Team
*DISCLAIMER: BigLaw Markets analyzes publicly available information, filings, press releases, and news stories published by reputable media sources to deliver content that highlights demand for legal services. Certain production processes may be supported by proprietary AI tools and are subject to human editorial judgement and review.
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