Good morning,

This week’s lateral market delivered a concentrated burst of activity, with more than 50 partner-level moves tracked across BigLaw. Simpson Thacher made the week’s headline play, pulling six asset management partners from Weil Gotshal across New York and London. Jones Day was equally aggressive, adding seven partners across Sydney, Brisbane, and Milan in a push to deepen its international bench. Capital markets and restructuring remained the busiest practice lanes, while Freshfields, Holland & Knight, and Weil Gotshal (on the hiring side in Frankfurt) were also active acquirers.

On the executive front, Fortune 500 succession planning continued at pace. General Mills named COO Dana McNabb as its next CEO, while Hartford Insurance Group tapped President Mo Tooker for the top job. In private markets, former UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty resurfaced as chairman of Hatteras Venture Partners, and Ben Monaghan is departing PJT Partners to lead M&A at BP.

Now, on to what matters for your practice today.

BigLaw Moves Sentiment

Restructuring and capital markets continue to dominate lateral activity, signaling that firms are preparing for an active cycle of debt refinancings, liability management transactions, and potential distressed situations.

Simpson Thacher’s six-partner raid on Weil’s asset management practice points to the growing importance of fund formation work as private capital managers continue raising record vehicles.

The international dimension of this week’s moves, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan, and Sydney, reflects cross-border deal flow and the premium firms place on local-market capabilities to serve global sponsor clients.

BigLaw Moves

A few quick patterns worth noting: This week saw 54 partner-level lateral moves across the AmLaw 200. Capital markets and asset management/fund formation led the volume, followed closely by restructuring and litigation.

Simpson Thacher was the most active acquirer with six hires from a single competitor. Geographic spread was notable—moves spanned New York, London, Frankfurt, Paris, Sydney, Brisbane, Milan, and Palo Alto, reflecting the global nature of the current talent war. Two Davis Polk partners departed for capital markets roles, and Clifford Chance lost two partners to U.S.-headquartered firms.

Bankruptcy and Restructuring
-Penelope Jensen joined O’Melveny & Myers as a corporate restructuring partner in New York from Linklaters.
-Hyung Soo Kim moved to Clark Hill as a corporate restructuring partner in New York from Holland & Knight.
-Ted Dillman was hired by King & Spalding as a restructuring partner in New York from Latham & Watkins.
-Douglass Barron lateralled to Moses Singer as a bankruptcy partner in New York from Paul Hastings.
-Bill Smelko was recruited by Buchalter as a bankruptcy and restructuring partner in San Diego from Procopio.

Capital Markets
-Justin Michael moved to Freshfields as a capital markets partner in New York from DLA Piper.
-Claudia Carvajal Lopez was recruited by Milbank as a corporate finance and securities partner in New York from Davis Polk.
-Kirsten Harmon lateralled to Vinson & Elkins as a capital markets partner in New York from Simpson Thacher.
-Jake Farquharson joined Holland & Knight as a capital markets and M&A partner in New York from Clifford Chance.
-Jeffrey Gould was hired by Freshfields as a capital markets partner in Silicon Valley from Davis Polk.
-Leigh De Jong joined Jones Day as a financial markets partner in Sydney from MinterEllison.

Corporate M&A
-Anne Cox-Johnson moved to Holland & Knight as an M&A partner in Atlanta from McDermott Will & Emery.
-Lance Sacks joined Jones Day as a corporate partner in Sydney from Baker McKenzie.
-Luigi Verga lateralled to Jones Day as a corporate partner in Milan from Freshfields.
-Giulio Politi was hired by Jones Day as a corporate partner in Milan from Freshfields.
-Tracy Jacobson moved to Armstrong Teasdale as a corporate partner in Chicago from Polsinelli.

Energy
-Pauline Portos was recruited by Willkie Farr & Gallagher as an energy and infrastructure partner in Paris from Gibson Dunn.
-John Meadows lateralled to Holland & Knight as an energy litigation partner in Houston from Steptoe & Johnson.
-Christopher Flynn joined Jones Day as an energy partner in Sydney from Gilbert + Tobin.

Government and Regulatory
-Jeremy Feigenbaum, former New Jersey Solicitor General, was tapped by Jenner & Block as a partner in New York.
-David Leviss joined O’Melveny & Myers’ health care and congressional investigations practice in Washington, D.C. from Capitol Legal Counsel.

Insurance
-John Grothaus moved to Mayer Brown as an insurance transactions partner in Chicago from Sidley Austin.
-Ben Eggert and Kim Melvin, former Wiley Rein partners, launched Tyka, an insurance coverage firm in Washington, D.C.

Intellectual Property
-Ken Saurajen joined Jones Day as an IP partner in Sydney from Clayton Utz.

Corporate Moves Sentiment

The CIO and CTO hiring wave across insurance, financial services, and real estate firms signals continued technology infrastructure investment, a driver of advisory work in cybersecurity, data governance, and tech transactions.

The General Mills and Hartford CEO successions, both internal promotions, reflect a Fortune 500 preference for operational continuity. Ben Monaghan’s move from PJT Partners to BP as head of M&A is a direct signal that the energy major is gearing up for deal activity, which could generate significant legal advisory mandates across M&A, energy regulatory, and capital markets practices.

Corporate Moves

Asset Managers and Financial Institutions

-Abry Partners
Yusef Kassim joined Abry Partners as head of capital strategy and investor relations from Advent International.

-Adams Street Partners
Justine Huang Burns joined Adams Street Partners as a partner focused on venture secondaries from Industry Ventures.

-Azarias Capital Management
Jocelyn Dalkin was promoted to Partner at Azarias Capital Management, a Berwyn, Pennsylvania-based private investment firm.

-Hartford Insurance Group
A. Morris “Mo” Tooker was appointed CEO at Hartford Insurance Group, effective March 1, 2027. Tooker joined the company in 2015 and currently serves as President. He will succeed Christopher Swift, who will transition to Executive Chair.

-Hatteras Venture Partners
Andrew Witty, former CEO of GSK and UnitedHealth Group, joined Hatteras Venture Partners as chairman. The firm also announced a first close on its second opportunities fund, targeting $100 million.

Ned Sharpless, former director of the National Cancer Institute, was named head of creation strategies at Hatteras Venture Partners.

-HighPost Capital
David Walsh joined HighPost Capital to lead a new aerospace, defense and cybersecurity investment unit. Walsh is a former U.S. Navy intelligence officer who most recently was with FON Advisors.

-Investindustrial
Shinichi Takahashi joined Investindustrial as head of its Tokyo office from Lone Star Funds.

-Jackson National Life Insurance
Dean Hosfield was named CIO at Jackson National Life Insurance, effective October 5. He joined from Knighthead Life and previously spent nearly 11 years at AIG and Fortitude Re.

-MidOcean Partners
Kit Soo (from Macquarie) and Bob McLaughlin (from CIFC Asset Management) were hired as principals on MidOcean Partners’ credit team. Matthew Lal (from Sculptor Capital) joined as a VP.

-Portage Point Partners
Steven Shenker was named co-head of turnaround and restructuring services at Portage Point Partners.

-VSS Capital Partners
Otilia Ciotau joined VSS Capital Partners as managing director of AI and value creation from The World Bank.

Corporates
-Albertsons
Cody Perdue was appointed interim CFO at Albertsons, adding these duties to his current role as SVP of Treasury, Investor Relations and Risk Management. He succeeded Sharon McCollam, who is retiring but will remain an advisor through February 2027.

-Altera
Nishit Sahay was named CIO at Altera, the programmable-chip manufacturer, moving from Marvell Technology where he also served as CIO.

-BP
Ben Monaghan is leaving PJT Partners to become head of M&A at BP, effective in 2027.

-Care.com
Sam Hall was appointed chief product and technology officer at Care.com. Hall most recently served as chief product officer at Epidemic Sound and previously held roles at Clear, Amazon, Grubhub, and ClassPass.

-Charter Next Generation
Mike Manke was appointed CIO at Charter Next Generation, a newly created role overseeing the packaging manufacturer’s enterprise technology strategy. He reports to Chairman and CEO Kathy Bolhous and most recently served as CIO at PremiStar.

-General Mills
Dana McNabb was appointed CEO at General Mills, effective January 1, 2027. McNabb joined the company in 1999 and has served as COO since June 2026. She will succeed Jeffrey L. Harmening, who is retiring.

-Newmark Group
Mike Whitaker was appointed CIO at Newmark Group. He previously served as CIO at Cantor Fitzgerald and spent 15 years in senior roles at Citigroup.

-Northern Trust
Dave W. Fox, Jr. announced his retirement as CFO at Northern Trust, effective on or around March 31, 2027. Fox has been with the company since 2012.

-StepStone Group
Yoshitaka Todoroki joined StepStone Group as vice chair of Japan from Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund, where he served as executive director of private markets.

-Third Wave Insurance
Awan Sikri was named CIO at Third Wave Insurance, a TPG-backed retail insurance brokerage platform. He most recently served as CTO at AssuredPartners, which was acquired by Arthur J Gallagher for $13.45 billion in August 2025.

-Title Resources Group
Brian Ruzycki was named CTO at Title Resources Group. He most recently served as CTO at Maxex and previously held technology leadership roles at RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing.

-World Surf League
Hal Oreif was appointed CTO at the World Surf League. He most recently led engineering, data, and machine learning teams across Amazon Ads and Prime Video and previously served as CTO at Warner Bros. and at IAC.

Heard on the Street

Lateral hiring at large U.S. law firms slowed in the second quarter of 2026 after a strong start to the year, with associate and counsel moves declining while partner hiring remained steady, according to Law360 Pulse. The data suggests firms grew more selective, prioritizing experienced partners with portable books of business over volume hiring at junior levels.

Firm Prospects reported that lateral associates now outnumber new law graduates in BigLaw hiring for the first time in recent memory, as firms shift from broad campus recruiting to experience-driven lateral pipelines. The firm’s co-founder Adam Oliver noted that “the rise in senior hires could be a response to decreased hires of junior and entry-level employees as firms recognize the capability of AI to handle many associate-level tasks.”

On the restructuring front, Bloomberg Law reported that U.S. lateral hiring of restructuring partners reached 96 moves year to date as of April 2026, putting 2026 on pace to exceed last year’s total. Cadwalader and Hogan Lovells both described the lateral market as signaling a “fast-moving restructuring market” driven by private credit growth, sponsor behavior, and macroeconomic volatility.

In the C-suite, Forbes noted that AI is reshaping which capabilities matter at the executive level, with AI literacy and deployment judgment now applying to every C-suite role, not just CTO and CAIO. Christian & Timbers reported that AI-assisted sourcing has compressed average C-suite search timelines from 14 weeks to 9 weeks at firms that have adopted it, while skills-based hiring has moved from an emerging idea to a structural shift in leadership recruitment.

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.