Good morning,

This week saw 29 firms welcoming 44 new partners across 13 practice areas. Team lifts led the action: King & Spalding pulled a five-lawyer international disputes group from WilmerHale, Orrick added four structured finance partners across New York, Austin, Charlotte, and London, Skadden hired three investment management partners from Akin Gump for its Abu Dhabi and Washington offices, and Jackson Lewis brought on three employment litigators in Los Angeles. Energy continued its run with Bracewell landing two Winston & Strawn energy partners in Houston and Simpson Thacher adding an energy partner from Latham.

On the client side, Truist Financial named former Fiserv CEO Mike Lyons as its next chief executive. AT&T CFO Pascal Desroches is retiring at year-end, with McAfee’s Jennifer Biry stepping into the role. Newmont made a rare triple C-suite appointment with a new CFO, COO, and CTO effective July 1. Ericsson CEO Börje Ekholm is stepping down. And a wave of CTO and CIO appointments hit Goosehead Insurance, Opteon, Acertus, Activate, KnowBe4, Mars, and Stitch Fix as companies push deeper into AI and digital infrastructure.

Now, on to what matters for your practice today.

BigLaw Moves Sentiment

The concentration of team lifts in investment management (Skadden from Akin Gump), structured finance (Orrick across four cities), and international disputes (King & Spalding from WilmerHale) signals that firms are building practice-group depth to capture cross-border fund flows and rising secondaries deal volume.

Energy hiring in Houston, combined with Skadden's Abu Dhabi expansion, points to continued demand for transactional energy and sovereign wealth fund advisory work.

Healthcare regulatory and antitrust hires from government indicate firms are positioning for increased enforcement activity.

BigLaw Moves

A few quick patterns worth noting: This week saw 29 firms welcoming 44 new partners. King & Spalding welcomed the most partners this week (5). Tax, structured finance, energy, and international disputes led practice-area volume. Washington, D.C. and New York remained the two busiest cities for lateral activity, with notable movement also in Houston, Los Angeles, and London.

Firms Welcoming Multiple Joiners

-King & Spalding (5): King & Spalding hired a five-partner team of international disputes lawyers from WilmerHale. The partners include Gary Born (London/New York), Rachael Kent (Washington, D.C.), Franz Schwarz (London), Marleen Krueger (London), and Danielle Morris (Washington, D.C.).

-Orrick (4): Victor Liang (structured finance, New York, from Morrison & Foerster), Brittany Fox (structured finance, Austin, from Morrison Foerster), John Paul Igoe (structured finance, Charlotte, from Mayer Brown), and Polly O'Brien (structured finance, London, from McDermott) joined as partners.

-Skadden (3): Robert Griffin and Skye Smith joined the Abu Dhabi office and Kapil Vishnu Pandit joined in Washington, D.C., all in investment management from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Griffin is a 25-year Akin veteran. The team bolsters Skadden's capabilities in guiding global asset managers and sovereign wealth funds.

-Jackson Lewis (3): Jennifer Jambor-Delgado, Leslie Joyner, and Alexander Spellman joined as employment litigation partners in Los Angeles from Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani.

-Simpson Thacher (2): Zhiyan Cao joined as a fund transactions partner in New York, focusing on secondaries, from Debevoise & Plimpton. Denny Lee joined as an energy and infrastructure partner in Houston from Latham & Watkins.

-Bracewell (2): Kevin Brophy and Ming Lei joined as partners in the oil and gas transactions group in Houston from Winston & Strawn. Brophy was co-chair of Winston & Strawn's energy and infrastructure group prior to the firm's recent merger and name change.

-BakerHostetler (2): Richard Slowinski and Stefanie Kavanagh joined as partners in the international tax team in Washington, D.C. from Alston & Bird.

-K&L Gates (2): Sanjeev Bhasker, former DOJ digital currency counsel, joined as a public policy partner in Washington, D.C. Sarah Pearce joined as a corporate partner in London from Hunton Andrews Kurth.

Firms Adding Single Joiners

-Baker Donelson: Richard Pensinger joined as a real estate partner in Nashville from K&L Gates.

-Ballard Spahr: Andrew Lee joined as an antitrust and competition partner in Washington, D.C. from Nelson Mullins.

-BCLP Susan: Carney Lynch, former senior DOJ trial counsel, joined as a healthcare litigation partner in Washington, D.C.

-Burr & Forman: Sam Grimes joined as a corporate and tax partner in Birmingham, Alabama from Storyteller Overland.

-Cadwalader: Robert Hayes joined as a finance partner in New York from Morgan Lewis.

-Davis Wright: Tremaine Emilie Woodhead joined as an employment partner in Los Angeles from Winston & Strawn.

-DLA Piper: Kevin O'Mara joined as a private equity partner in New York from Willkie Farr & Gallagher.

-Dykema: Brent Procida joined as a financial services litigation partner in Washington, D.C. from Venable.

-Gibson Dunn: Margaux Hall joined as a health regulatory partner in Washington, D.C. from Ropes & Gray.

-Greenberg Traurig: Curtis Leitner joined as a litigation shareholder in New York from McCarter & English.

-Hinshaw & Culbertson: Diana Winfrey joined as an insurance partner in Los Angeles from Selman Breitman.

-Holland & Knight: Lawrence "Larry" Hill joined as a tax partner in New York.

-Honigman: Kelly Kluka joined as a healthcare transactions partner in Detroit from Kirkland & Ellis.

-Milbank: Stuart Alter joined as a tax partner in New York from Akin Gump.

-Paul Weiss: Linda Barrett joined as an executive compensation partner in New York from Simpson Thacher.

-Quarles & Brady: Hillary Bean joined as a commercial real estate and leasing partner in St. Louis from Armstrong Teasdale.

-Sidley: Sumita Ahuja joined as a global finance partner in New York from Wachtell.

-Steptoe: Loukas Mistelis, a professor at Queen Mary University of London, joined as an international disputes partner in London.

-Sullivan & Cromwell: Carla Hine joined as an antitrust partner in Washington, D.C.

-Thompson Coburn: Craig Haughton joined as a financial services litigation partner in New York from Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.

-Thompson Hine: Steven Nevolis joined as a labor and employment partner in New York from Ellenoff Grossman & Schole.

Corporate Moves Sentiment

The wave of CTO and CIO appointments across insurance, property services, automotive logistics, and gaming reflects a market-wide push to embed AI and data capabilities into traditional industries.

For law firms, this digital transformation is likely to drive advisory revenue in data privacy compliance, AI governance, technology transactions, and cybersecurity regulatory work.

The Truist-Fiserv CEO exchange and Newmont's triple C-suite appointment suggest boards are making decisive leadership changes to position for their next strategic phase, creating opportunities for executive compensation, corporate governance, and M&A advisory practices.

Corporate Moves

Financial Services and Banking

-JPMorgan Chase hired Alisdair Gayne as vice-chair of investment banking in London from Barclays, where he was head of EMEA investment banking. The bank also named Daniel Rudnicki Schlumberger sole head of the bank’s Security and Resiliency Initiative for EMEA and Noah Roth head of EMEA leveraged finance.

-Citi named Robin Rousseau global chair of M&A and Barry Weir vice-chair of M&A, and hired William Mansfield as head of M&A for the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Mansfield joins from Deutsche Bank.

-Moelis & Company hired James McEwan as a managing director in mergers and acquisitions in New York, focused on the energy sector, from Citi.

-Deutsche Bank named Tobias Wagnert head of M&A for EMEA.

-Mizuho named Guy Reid as head of banking EMEA.

-Truist Financial appointed Mike Lyons as CEO, effective September 1. Lyons previously served as CEO of Fiserv (No. 215) and will succeed Bill Rogers, who will serve as Executive Chairman until April 2027. Following Lyons’ departure, Takis Georgakopoulos became Fiserv’s CEO.

Private Capital and Asset Management

-Ares Management named Brent Canada head of infrastructure debt.

-Mudrick Capital Management hired Adam Kaufman as chief legal officer from Muzinich & Co.

-SoftBank Vision Fund CFO Navneet Govil is stepping down.

-Base10 Partners welcomed Caroline Chen as a Principal from L Catterton.

-645 Ventures added Parul Singh joined as an investment partner from Initialized Capital.

Corporates

-Newmont appointed Brian Tabolt as CFO, Mark Rodgers as COO, and David Thornton as CTO, effective July 1. Tabolt currently serves as Chief Accounting Officer and will take over from Chief Legal Officer Peter Wexler, who has been interim CFO since Karyn Ovelmen resigned in July 2025. Rodgers will succeed Natascha Viljoen, who became CEO in January.

-Activate named Scott Shultz as CTO from Exeter Finance, where he served as SVP of infrastructure and techops.

-AT&T CFO Pascal Desroches is retiring effective December 31. Jennifer Biry, currently CFO and COO of McAfee, was appointed deputy CFO effective July 6.

-Cencora announced that Silvana Battaglia will retire as EVP and CHRO, effective July 13. Samantha Hammock was appointed CHRO from Verizon Communications.

-Ericsson CEO Börje Ekholm is stepping down and will be replaced by Per Narvinger, the group’s current head of business area networks.

-FirstEnergy appointed Daniel Puscas as CIO from Fortium Partners.

-KnowBe4 promoted Alex Callihan to CTO. Callihan joined the cybersecurity vendor in 2017.

-Kohl's appointed Elliott Rodgers as COO from Foot Locker. He previously held roles at Ulta Beauty, Target, and Citigroup.

-Mars appointed Kemal Cetin as global chief digital and information officer for its snacking business from FrieslandCampina, effective August 3.

-Quinbrook hired Tim Hornman as regional leader for Australia from APLNG and Origin Energy.

-SpaceX is adding Roelof Botha of Sequoia Capital to the board of directors.

Heard on the Street

The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance published its Global CEO Turnover Index on June 17, noting that 26% of incoming CEOs in Q1 2026 had prior experience leading a public company, up from 17% a year earlier and 8% in Q1 2024. Among S&P 500 companies, 41% of incoming CEOs were experienced hires, the highest first-quarter level in the index’s nine-year tracking history. The report highlights a growing board preference for proven operators over first-time CEOs.

Firm Prospects data shows litigation led lateral partner hiring at 26%, followed by corporate at 16%, with firms making targeted investments in AI and data privacy, energy transition, and government investigations practices. The report noted that growth in 2026 is driven by precision hiring rather than volume, with firms focused on revenue-generating laterals who align with broader strategic initiatives.

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 newsletters that highlight the drivers of demand for legal services.