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Sidley Austin pulled four energy, transportation, and infrastructure partners from Winston Taylor this week, landing Michael Pikiel in New York, Tom Millar in Houston, Richard Puttré in Washington, and Patrick Selinger in Miami. It was the largest single-firm raid of the week and cements Sidley's bench in energy and infrastructure.

Gibson Dunn continued its multi-month hiring streak by adding Jonathan Ashtor from Paul Weiss to co-chair its technology transactions practice and Clay Brett from Baker Botts to bolster its Houston energy private equity bench. Paul Weiss countered by picking up William "Willy" Jay from Goodwin to lead its Supreme Court and appellate practice. Stris & Maher made its own four-partner splash with an IP team across Los Angeles and Dallas.

On the executive side, JPMorgan hired David Fishman from Bank of America to lead North American tech M&A, while Evercore recruited defense and government banking co-heads Jean Stack and John Song from Robert W. Baird.

Deutsche Bank is rebuilding its commodities desk with hires from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, reversing its 2013 exit. And in the CFO suite, a multi-company cascade is underway: Jay Saccaro left GE HealthCare for Zoetis, opening the seat for William K. Grogan from Xylem, whose departure elevates Andrea van der Berg.

Now, on to what matters for your practice today.

BigLaw Moves Sentiment

Energy and infrastructure is the clear growth driver this week. Sidley's four-partner raid from Winston Taylor signals sustained demand for energy transition, project finance, and infrastructure work fueled by ongoing IRA-related investments and massive infrastructure spending.

Gibson Dunn's continued recruiting across technology transactions and energy private equity points to growing convergence between tech deals and energy capital.

The IP litigation team move to Stris & Maher reflects strong patent litigation demand. These trends point to growing legal advisory revenue in energy, tech transactions, and complex litigation.

BigLaw Moves

A few quick patterns worth noting: This week saw 35 firms welcoming 48 new partners. Sidley Austin and Stris & Maher each welcomed the most partners this week (4), while Winston Taylor and DLA Piper saw the most net departures.

Energy and infrastructure dominated the lateral flow, with six partners moving in the space. Gibson Dunn continued its aggressive multi-month recruiting campaign. And labor and employment saw broad activity with seven moves across the country.

Firms Welcoming Multiple Joiners

-Sidley Austin (4 joiners): Michael Pikiel joined as an energy, transportation and infrastructure partner in New York, from Winston Taylor. Tom Millar joined as an energy, transportation and infrastructure partner in Houston, from Winston Taylor. Richard Puttré joined as an energy, transportation and infrastructure partner in Washington, D.C., from Winston Taylor. Patrick Selinger joined as an energy, transportation and infrastructure partner in Miami, from Winston Taylor.

-Stris & Maher (4 joiners): Mieke Malmberg, Sarah Spires, Steven Hartsell, and Jaime Olin joined as IP partners in Los Angeles and Dallas.

-Gibson Dunn (2 joiners): Jonathan Ashtor joined as a partner and co-chair of technology transactions in New York, from Paul Weiss where he co-chaired the global AI group. Clay Brett also joined Gibson as a private equity and energy partner in Houston, from Baker Botts where he co-headed the energy private equity practice.

-Jones Day (2 joiners): Elizabeth Oberholzer joined as a corporate partner in Munich, from Freshfields and Bo Huang joined as a disputes partner in Hong Kong, from Davis Polk.

-Ogletree Deakins (2 joiners): Frank Olah joined as an employment litigation partner in Los Angeles, from Carlton Fields and Alexander Harwin joined as an employment litigation partner in Los Angeles, from FordHarrison.

-Venable (2 joiners): Stacy Marcus and Michael Isselin joined as advertising partners in New York, from DLA Piper.

-Spencer Fane (2 joiners): Katie Shepard joined as a banking and financial services partner in Tampa, from Akerman and Tina Fowler joined as a labor and employment partner in Springfield, Missouri, from Ellis Ellis Hammons & Johnson.

-Kaufman Dolowich (2 joiners): Kenneth Coronel joined as a construction litigation partner in Los Angeles, from Freeman Mathis & Gary and John Simon joined as a professional liability partner in Woodbury, New York, from The Sanders Firm.

-Hall Booth Smith (2 joiners): Chance Barnett joined as a litigation partner in Albuquerque, from Barnett Law Group and Charles Kraft joined as a litigation partner in Albuquerque, from Butt Thornton & Baehr.

Firms Adding Single Joiners

-A&O Shearman added M&A and private equity partner Steven Tyndall in Austin, from Morrison Foerster.

-Arnold & Porter added financial services partner Brendan Clegg in Washington, D.C., from Luse Gorman.

-Bradley added healthcare partner Gregory Bianchi in Atlanta, previously associate general counsel at a healthcare staffing company.

-Cooley added capital markets partner Julia White in San Francisco, from Goodwin.

-Foley & Lardner added life sciences and technology transactions partner Jane Adams in San Diego, from Cooley.

-Greenberg Traurig added labor and employment shareholder Anne Martinez in Miami.

-Holland & Knight added private equity and M&A partner Kristie Shu in Century City, from Kirkland & Ellis.

-Jackson Lewis added employee benefits partner Melissa Kurtzman in Philadelphia, from Littler.

-Kirkland & Ellis added litigation partner Aaron Katz in Boston, from Aaron Katz Law.

-Linklaters added corporate partner Osama Audi in Abu Dhabi, from Baker McKenzie.

-Littler added employment shareholder Suzanne Martin in Las Vegas, from Ogletree Deakins.

-Mayer Brown added leveraged finance and private capital partner Justin Hewett in Houston, from DLA Piper. He advises on intercreditor arrangements and equity-linked features.

-McKool Smith added litigation partner Mary-Olga "Mo" Lovett in Dallas, from Mo Lovett Law.

-Milbank added project, energy and infrastructure finance partner Nadav Klugman in its forthcoming Chicago office, from White & Case.

-Morgan & Morgan added personal injury litigation partner Daniel Iracki in Jacksonville, from Coker Law.

-Nelson Mullins added real estate partner Kristen Andreoli in New York, from Polsinelli.

-Norton Rose Fulbright added corporate, M&A and securities partner Steve Olenick as U.S. head of sports capital and transactions in New York, from Mintz.

-Paul Weiss added William "Willy" Jay from Goodwin to lead its Supreme Court and appellate litigation practice in Washington.

-Pierson Ferdinand added litigation partner Scott Earle in Wilmington and Philadelphia, from Goldberg Segalla.

-Pillsbury added litigation partner Claudia Vetesi in San Francisco, from Morrison Foerster.

-Simpson Thacher added energy and infrastructure partner Murray Cox in London, from Weil.

-Squire Patton Boggs added Ernest Eric Elmore as of counsel in its global antitrust & competition practice in Washington, D.C., from the FTC.

-Troutman Pepper Locke added real estate partner Dan Monger in Boston, from ArentFox Schiff.

-Vedder Price added executive compensation and employee benefits shareholder Erin Weber in Chicago, from Reyes Holdings.

-White & Case added M&A and real estate partner Joseph Sultan in Miami, from Kirkland & Ellis.

-Winston Taylor added investigations and white-collar defense partner John Mitchell in Chicago, from Willkie.

Corporate Moves Sentiment

The CFO carousel across Centene, Lincoln Financial, Baxter International, GE HealthCare, Xylem, and Zoetis signals healthy executive mobility in healthcare and industrials, which typically generates legal advisory work around compensation structuring, governance transitions, and regulatory compliance.

JPMorgan's tech M&A leadership hire and Evercore's defense banking expansion suggest sustained deal flow in technology and government contracting.

Deutsche Bank's commodities re-entry could drive energy trading documentation and regulatory work for law firms with commodities practices.

Corporate Moves

Investment Banking

-Deutsche Bank hired Madhav Janakiraman and Benoit Bosc from Goldman Sachs, plus senior Morgan Stanley commodity sales executives, to rebuild its energy trading business, reversing its 2013 exit from commodities.

-Evercore hired Jean Stack and John Song as senior managing directors from Robert W. Baird, where they co-headed defense, space and government investment banking. Stack advised Lockheed Martin, Leidos, Booz Allen Hamilton, Accenture, and Boeing.

-JPMorgan hired David Fishman from Bank of America as vice chair and head of North American tech M&A. Vineet Seth becomes vice chair of investment banking.

-Lincoln International added David Shim as director of capital advisory, from Houlihan Lokey.

-Moelis & Co. added Russell Mason as managing director of capital structure advisory, from Houlihan Lokey.

Asset Managers

-Apollo is hiring Hiroki Nagamine from Goldman Sachs in Tokyo as a senior salesperson, deepening ties with Japanese institutions.

-Avista Healthcare Partners added Tom Orr, former CEO of Seaway Plastics Engineering, as a strategic executive.

-Future Fund (Australia) CEO Raphael Arndt is stepping down at year-end. Spencer Stuart was hired to find a successor for the A$356 billion sovereign wealth fund.

-G2 Venture Partners added Phil Garbarini as VP, from Deloitte.

-LDR Partners added Paul Murphy, former CEO of Cadence Bank, as a partner.

-Left Lane Capital managing partner Jason Fiedler stepped down from the role, remaining as venture adviser.

-LPL Financial named Jonathan Lewis CTO and CIO, from Wells Fargo where he led digital and trading technology for wealth management.

-Montana Capital Partners (PGIM secondaries unit) hired Lucas Radal to lead Middle East efforts, from Mubadala.

-Star Mountain Capital added Adam Fitzner as managing director and strategic portfolio manager, from Hamilton Robinson Capital Partners.

Corporates

-Applied Materials named Faran Nouri VP and global head of Applied Ventures, its VC arm. She previously was a senior partner at Natcast.

-Baxter International appointed John Rogers EVP and CFO, effective October 1. He currently serves as CFO of Smith+Nephew and previously was CFO of WPP. Anita Zielinski, who served as interim CFO, is headed to Cardinal Health as Chief Accounting Officer.

-Centene CFO Drew Asher is stepping down at year-end. Chris Neczypor, former CFO of Lincoln Financial, will succeed him. Adam Cohen was named interim CFO at Lincoln Financial.

-Gateway Fiber appointed David Curran CTO, previously VP of network architecture at Verizon.

-GE HealthCare Technologies appointed William K. Grogan CFO, effective September 14, from Xylem. Jay Saccaro, the previous CFO, became CFO and COO of Zoetis.

-OverDrive named Liz Carrasco CTO, previously in senior technology leadership at CBS Interactive, ViacomCBS, and Paramount.

-Patterson Companies named Wasi Ahmed CIO, previously CIO at Foundation Building Materials and Yokohama Tire.

-PRG appointed Joe Simon CTO and CIO, previously CTO/CIO at Entain.

-QVC Group CEO David Rawlinson is stepping down. Mike George, who led the company for nearly 16 years prior, was appointed interim CEO.

-Rigetti Computing promoted Andrew Bestwick to CTO, consolidating quantum processor architecture, chip development, and hardware engineering.

-ServiceTrade appointed Brian Schaad CTO, previously leading engineering at Consensus.

-Spinnaker Support appointed Rex Young CIO, previously CIO and CISO at SambaSafety.

-Xylem will elevate Andrea van der Berg to CFO effective September 1, succeeding William K. Grogan. She previously spent 13 years at Honeywell Technologies.

-Zoetis named Jay Saccaro CFO and COO effective August 17, from GE HealthCare Technologies where he served as CFO.

Heard on the Street

The ABA Journal reported this week that BigLaw is "bringing out big incentives for lateral candidates," with firms offering larger signing bonuses, accelerated equity shares, and compensation guarantees to attract top talent. Latham & Watkins and Cleary Gottlieb were cited as firms that have become notably more aggressive in recruiting.

Above the Law covered Brown Rudnick's largest group hire in firm history: a 34-lawyer intellectual property litigation team from HSF Kramer, accompanied by a new Silicon Valley office. The move signals that mid-sized firms are willing to make outsized bets on IP litigation as patent and trade secret disputes intensify in the technology sector.

On the executive side, Altrata reported that S&P 500 companies have accelerated leadership team hiring, with new leadership hires rising from 14% in 2023 to 22.7% in 2025. Forbes highlighted that AI fluency has moved from a nice-to-have to a requirement at every level of the C-suite, with companies increasingly seeking operators who can execute, not just strategize.

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.