Good morning,
This week's lateral market delivered over 30 partner-level moves across 16 practice areas, with Sheppard Mullin absorbing the heaviest losses across New York, Century City, Orange County, and Dallas. Paul Hastings added litigation partners as Jones Day made a coordinated push into European financial markets, hiring partners in both Munich and Frankfurt. Buchalter was active across three markets, and Sullivan & Cromwell continued building in New York with tax and estates hires from Kirkland and White & Case.
On the executive side, the CTO and CIO pipeline continues to churn. Tractor Supply recruited Home Depot's former CIO Fahim Siddiqui to lead digital transformation, while Ticketmaster tapped Jim Freeman from Zalando to drive AI-powered product development. ManpowerGroup announced that Becky Frankiewicz will take over as CEO in January, and Hamilton Lane installed a new co-CEO structure. At the same time, Union Pacific and CSX both disclosed senior retirements, signaling leadership transitions across the transportation sector.
Now, on to what matters for your practice today.
BigLaw Moves Sentiment
This week's lateral activity reinforces three themes likely to drive legal advisory revenue. First, the volume of capital markets hires across London, Toronto, Munich, and Frankfurt points to firms positioning for cross-border deal flow heading into 2027.
Second, the concentration of litigation hires, particularly the Paul Hastings team grab from Sheppard Mullin, suggests firms are building trial benches ahead of what many anticipate will be an active enforcement and disputes cycle.
Third, Ashurst Perkins Coie's dual Bracewell raid in Houston reflects continued demand for energy-sector legal talent as the regulatory environment around oil, gas, and renewables remains fluid.
BigLaw Moves
A few quick patterns worth noting: Capital markets and litigation each accounted for five or more moves, making them the most active practice areas this week.
Sheppard Mullin lost five partners this week, three to Paul Hastings and two to Massumi + Consoli, raising questions about bench retention in litigation and M&A. Jones Day made two financial markets hires in Germany in a single cycle, a sign of deliberate European capital markets buildout. Ashurst Perkins Coie pulled two partners from Bracewell in Houston, consolidating energy and real estate capabilities. Buchalter made three hires across Orange County and Dallas. Snell & Wilmer brought a four-lawyer team from Pérez-Llorca to open its Mexico City practice, signaling cross-border ambition.
Antitrust and Competition
Yuni Yan Sobel joined Weil as an antitrust partner, moving from Paul Weiss. (New York)
Larry Reicher was hired by Redgrave as an antitrust discovery partner from Hopper. (Washington, D.C.)
Aviation and Aerospace
Brian Benoit lateralled to Hinshaw as an aviation and aerospace partner from KMA Zuckert. (Chicago)
Capital Markets
Alexander Katznelson moved to Mintz as a securities and capital markets partner from Cozen O'Connor. (Toronto)
Chris Acton was recruited by Haynes Boone as a derivatives partner from Macfarlanes. (London)
Jörg Weber joined Jones Day as a financial markets partner from Kirkland. (Munich)
Arne Klüwer moved to Jones Day as a financial markets partner from Dentons. (Frankfurt)
Glenn Kunkes was hired by Sidley as a finance partner from Mayer Brown. (Charlotte)
Corporate M&A
Carol Archer lateralled to Massumi + Consoli as an M&A partner from Sheppard Mullin. (New York)
Lindsay Ferguson joined Massumi + Consoli as an M&A partner from Sheppard Mullin. (Dallas)
Cybersecurity and Data Privacy
Anne Yarovoy Khan was recruited by Ogletree Deakins as an AI and privacy partner from Fisher Phillips. (San Francisco)
Energy
Tom Tomlinson lateralled to Ashurst Perkins Coie as an energy partner from Bracewell. (Houston)
Healthcare
Jeff McSorley was hired by Crowell as a healthcare partner from the Department of Justice. (Washington, D.C.)
Insurance
Greg Worden joined Clyde & Co as an insurance partner from Lewis Brisbois. (Seattle)
Labor and Employment
Sara Olschewske moved to Barnes & Thornburg as a labor and employment partner from Ogletree Deakins. (Nashville)
Life Sciences
Carlo Felizardo was recruited by Freshfields as a life sciences partner from Gibson Dunn. (Washington, D.C.)
Litigation
Abby Meyer lateralled to Paul Hastings as a litigation partner from Sheppard Mullin. (Orange County)
Charles Clark joined Buchalter as a litigation partner from Jackson Tidus. (Orange County)
Alex Kaplan was hired by Kirkland as a litigation partner from Susman Godfrey. (Houston/Austin)
Craig Cardon and Jay Ramsey moved to Paul Hastings as litigation partners from Sheppard Mullin. (Century City)
Jeffrey Patterson, Ryan Tosi, and Phoebe Winder joined Womble Bond Dickinson as financial services litigation partners from K&L Gates. (Boston)
Private Funds
Scott Murray was recruited by Buchalter as a private funds partner from Greenberg Traurig. (Dallas)
Real Estate
Adam Hirst joined Haynes Boone as a real estate partner from Loeb & Loeb. (New York)
Stephanie Nation lateralled to Buchalter as a real estate partner from Jackson Tidus. (Orange County)
Tamara McKinzie was hired by Ashurst Perkins Coie as a real estate partner from Bracewell. (Houston)
Tax
Stephen Josey moved to Akerman as a tax partner from Vinson & Elkins. (New York)
Vivek Ratnam was recruited by Sullivan & Cromwell as a tax partner from Kirkland. (New York)
Patrick McCann joined Nelson Mullins as a tax controversy and litigation partner from Chamberlain Hrdlicka. (Atlanta)
Trusts and Estates
Christopher Lacaria lateralled to Sullivan & Cromwell as an estates and personal partner from White & Case. (New York)
Evgeny Magidenko joined Honigman as a private client partner from ArentFox Schiff. (Bloomfield Hills)
General Practice — Mexico City Expansion
José Rivero, Jacinto Ávalos, Alfredo Chávez, and Luis Enrique Cervantes moved to Snell & Wilmer from Pérez-Llorca. (Mexico City)
Corporate Moves Sentiment
The CTO and CIO hiring cycle shows no sign of slowing: eight technology chief positions were filled or vacated this week alone, and nearly every appointment references AI, data strategy, or digital transformation as a core mandate. For BigLaw, this signals expanding deal flow in technology transactions, data licensing, and AI governance advisory.
The Fortune 500 retirements at Union Pacific and CSX point to a coming wave of succession-planning work in the transportation sector. ManpowerGroup's CEO transition and Hamilton Lane's co-CEO structure suggest that governance advisory, executive compensation, and corporate restructuring practices should see steady demand heading into 2027.
Corporate Moves
Investment Banking
Evercore: Nigel Dawn and Naveen Nataraj were named co-presidents, effective in 2027. Dawn has led the firm's private capital advisory business, while Nataraj was co-head of investment banking.
Separately, John Vaske joined as a Senior Managing Director of chemicals investment banking from Ducera Partners.
LionTree: Sarah Bond, former Xbox President at Microsoft, joined as a Senior Advisor.
Asset Managers
Advent International: Mehdi Iraqi will lead a new Abu Dhabi office for the private equity firm, which he joined in January 2026.
GenNx360 Capital Partners: Nicole Vipperman joined as Chief Compliance Officer from TGM.
Hamilton Lane: Hartley Rogers was named co-CEO alongside Juan Delgado-Moreira. Rogers succeeds Erik Hirsch, who becomes Executive Co-Chair.
THL Partners: Bruce Robertson was hired as a Managing Director on the healthcare investment team from H.I.G. Capital.
Touring Capital: Eddie Washington joined as an Operating Partner focused on talent and community from Carrara.
Ufenau Capital Partners: Marius Buxkaemper was promoted to partner.
Weatherford Capital: Michael Pantilione was hired as a partner in the firm's flagship strategy from LLR Partners.
Corporates
Alaska Airlines: Amaresh Siva was appointed to the newly created role of Chief Information Technology Officer to set enterprise-wide technology, data, and digital strategy. Siva joins from CVS Health, where he served as Chief Digital and Technology Officer. He previously held senior technology roles at Target.
Arms Cyber: Jay Manni was appointed Chief Technology Officer, overseeing engineering, product development, and technology strategy. Manni previously served as SVP of product engineering at DTEX Systems and was a founding engineer at FireEye.
CSX: Mike Cory will retire as EVP and COO after more than three years with the railroad company. No successor has been named.
Dark Matter Technologies: Don Oliver was promoted to Chief Technology Officer. Oliver joined the software company at its 2023 launch and previously spent nearly eight years at Black Knight.
Dynata: Marcus Casal was named Chief Product and Technology Officer, leading product development, AI and data, and engineering. Casal most recently served as CTO at Lionbridge.
ManpowerGroup: Becky Frankiewicz was appointed CEO, effective January 1, 2027. Frankiewicz currently serves as President and Chief Strategy Officer and previously led PepsiCo's Quaker Foods North America business. She succeeds Jonas Prising, who will become Executive Chair.
ModernRails: Raghu Sastry was appointed Chief Technology Officer, leading technology strategy, platform architecture, and product innovation for the payments infrastructure company.
NEA / Valarian: Mustafa Neemuchwala stepped down as a partner with NEA to join portfolio company Valarian as Chief Business Officer.
Publix: Laurie Douglas was promoted to EVP and Chief Information and Digital Officer. Douglas joined the grocery retailer in 2006 as SVP and CIO.
Sprouts Farmers Market: James Bahrenburg stepped down as CTO, effective October 12. He will remain an advisor through March 31, 2027. No successor has been announced.
Ticketmaster: Jim Freeman was appointed Chief Technology Officer, responsible for developing AI-powered tools. Freeman previously served as CTO at Zalando and held VP roles at Amazon's Prime Video and Alexa Mobile divisions.
Tractor Supply: Fahim Siddiqui was appointed EVP and Chief Technology and Digital Officer, effective October 26. Siddiqui most recently served as EVP and CIO of Home Depot. He succeeds Robert D. Mills, who left in August to become President and CEO of B&G Foods.
Union Pacific: Jennifer Hamann will retire as CFO in early 2027 after 35 years with the company and seven years as CFO. Succession plans have not been announced.
Woodward: Paxton McVoy was named CIO, a newly created role overseeing global IT, digital strategy, AI, data and analytics, and cybersecurity. McVoy previously served as CIO at Veralto and held senior IT leadership roles at Medtronic.
Heard on the Street
Macrae reported that BigLaw partner hiring reached a six-year high in Q1 2026, with 979 partner-level lateral moves across the top 200 U.S. firms — a 9.4% year-over-year increase. Total lateral attorney hires rose 5.5% to 3,521. Tad Gruman of Macrae noted that partners are increasingly benchmarking their compensation against peers and are "more willing to move if their expectations aren't met." Private equity, M&A, real estate, and technology transactions remain the most active practice areas for lateral movement.
Law360 Pulse reported that large U.S. law firms hired steadily in the third quarter of 2026, with associate and counsel moves helping to offset a modest decline in partner hiring compared to Q1's record pace. The data suggests that firms are balancing aggressive partner recruitment with a broader talent pipeline strategy.
LHH's 2026 View from the C-Suite research found that executive turnover has dropped sharply, with high-turnover leadership teams (more than 50% executive churn) falling from 43% in 2025 to 19% in 2026. AI and emerging technology rose seven places to become the number one perceived development gap among C-suite leaders, with 49% ranking it a top priority. Juan Luis Goujon of LHH cautioned that "without deliberate development pathways, longer-term late careers at the top can become a bottleneck" for succession planning.
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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