Good morning,

Last week's lateral activity showed 24 firms welcoming 28 new partners, with hiring concentrated in restructuring, capital markets, and regulatory practices. The week's marquee storyline remained Gibson Dunn's six-partner raid on Wachtell, Lipton, including litigation co-chair William Savitt. Kirkland & Ellis and DLA Piper each brought on three partners, leading the intake. Government-to-BigLaw movement continued with hires from the DOJ, SDNY, and the U.S. Treasury.

On the corporate side, Fortune 500 boards made several CFO and CEO appointments. Hormel Foods named John Ghingo as its next President and CEO. VF Corporation and Owens Corning both installed new CFOs, and Masco created a new CMO role. In private equity and venture capital, Blackstone saw a leadership change at its flagship credit fund, while JPMorgan and Bank of America added senior dealmakers from rival shops.

Now, on to what matters for your practice today.

BigLaw Moves Sentiment

Restructuring and capital markets continue to dominate lateral demand. The three Kirkland restructuring hires and DLA Piper's capital solutions build-out signal that firms expect sustained deal flow in distressed assets and liability management transactions.

Government-to-Big Law pipeline hires in antitrust, national security, and enforcement suggest firms are positioning for increased regulatory activity and CFIUS scrutiny.

Healthcare laterals across multiple firms point to growing compliance and transactional work in that sector.

BigLaw Moves

A few quick patterns worth noting: This week saw 24 firms welcoming 28 new partners. Gibson Dunn added seven partners, Kirkland & Ellis and DLA Piper each welcomed the most partners this week (3 each), while Simpson Thacher and Cooley saw notable net departures, each losing two partners while gaining one.

Firms Welcoming Multiple Joiners

-Gibson Dunn added six-partner raid on Wachtell, Lipton, including litigation co-chair William Savitt, Sarah Eddy, Randall Jackson, Ryan McLeod, Anitha Reddy, and Brad Wilson.
Gibson also hired Christopher Scavone to its investment funds practice from Simpson Thacher.

-Kirkland & Ellis welcomed three partners this week, adding Kelsey Baumberger from Milbank as a debt finance partner in New York, along with Dan Prieto and Amanda Rush from Jones Day in a mass torts restructuring duo in Dallas. Kirkland continues to build out its restructuring capabilities as mass tort liabilities create a growing pipeline of Chapter 11 filings.

-DLA Piper added three partners across its capital solutions and restructuring practices. Kfir Abutbul joined from A&O Shearman as a capital solutions partner, Kristine Manoukian arrived from McDermott Will & Emery as a restructuring partner, and Jacob Durkin joined from Simpson Thacher as a London-based capital solutions partner. The hires reflect DLA Piper's push to build a cross-border capital solutions bench.

Firms Adding Single Joiners

-Akerman expanded its franchise and licensing practice with Eleanor Vaida Gerhards from Fox Rothschild.

-Arnold & Porter added Brian Hill from King & Spalding as an IP partner in Washington, D.C.

-Baker McKenzie hired Jeffrey Goldman from Cooley as a transactional partner in Palo Alto, focusing on executive compensation.

-Bracewell brought on Dina McLeod as a government enforcement and investigations partner in New York, where she previously served as fraud and cyber chief at the SDNY.

-Cooley added Frances Mosley from DLA Piper as an emerging companies and venture capital partner in Palo Alto.

-Faegre Drinker brought on Norman Pentelovitch from 3M as a litigation partner in Minneapolis.

-Foley Hoag added Lauren Carboni from Foley & Lardner as a healthcare partner in Denver.

-Fox Rothschild added Marc Wagner from BakerHostetler as an FDA regulatory partner in Washington, D.C.

-Freshfields brought in Keith Hallam, a former Cravath M&A dealmaker most recently at White & Case, as a partner in its M&A practice in New York.

-Greenberg Traurig hired William Dorsey from Blank Rome as a litigation shareholder based in Denver and New York.

-Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer tapped Daniel Geyser from Haynes Boone as co-head of Supreme Court and Appellate Litigation in the U.S., based in Washington, D.C.

-Holland & Knight brought on Courtney Miller from HWG as a legal ethics partner.

-Kaufman Dolowich added Stanley Blyth from O'Hagan Meyer as a labor and employment trial partner in Los Angeles.

-McDermott Will & Emery brought on Jonathan Feiler, former COO of Blackstone's multi-strategy investing business, as a partner in its transaction practice group.

-Morrison Foerster added Annie Wartanian Reisinger as a partner in its national security group in D.C., where she previously worked at the U.S. Treasury's Office of the General Counsel and CFIUS.

-Orrick hired Obrea Poindexter from Cooley for its financial services and fintech advisory practice in D.C.

-Paul Weiss hired Rachel Phillips from Ropes & Gray as a capital markets partner in New York.

-Polsinelli brought on Michaela Poizner as a behavioral health care shareholder in Nashville.

-Simpson Thacher added Stephanie Marshak from Wachtell as a capital structure solutions partner in New York.

-Sullivan & Cromwell rehired Jack Congdon as an antitrust partner in Washington, D.C., returning from the U.S. Department of Justice.

-Womble Bond Dickinson hired Timothy Wagner from Nelson Mullins as a tax partner in Baltimore.

Corporate Moves Sentiment

Fortune 500 CFO rotations at VF, Owens Corning, and the Hormel CEO appointment suggest boards are refreshing leadership teams heading into the second half of the year.

The Blackstone credit fund leadership change and the flow of senior talent between bulge-bracket banks and advisory boutiques point to continued repositioning in private capital markets and investment banking coverage.

For law firms, these transitions create advisory touchpoints across M&A, executive compensation, securities compliance, and corporate governance.

Corporate Moves

Investment Banking

-Steve Hunter joined Ascent Advisory Partners as an Atlanta-based managing director from TM Capital.

-Ian Mackay joined Bank of America as a managing director from BlackArch Partners.

-Shawn Hoyer joined JPMorgan as a managing director focused on VC coverage after over 20 years at Bank of America.

Asset Managers

-Jonathan Bock stepped down as co-CEO of Blackstone's flagship private credit fund, leaving Brad Marshall as sole CEO.

-Melissa Grant joined Carlyle as a managing director in its global infrastructure and energy practice from Aksia.

Corporates

-Hormel Foods appointed John Ghingo as President and CEO, effective October 26, succeeding interim CEO Jeff Ettinger, who had returned to the role in July 2025 after Jim Snee retired. Ghingo has served as Hormel's President since July 2025 and previously held leadership roles at Mondelez International.

-VF Corporation appointed Abhishek Dalmia as CFO, effective August 1. Dalmia will retain his role as COO and succeeds Paul Vogel, who will move into an advisory role. He previously held roles at BCG, Lululemon Athletica, Dell Technologies, and Citigroup.

-Owens Corning appointed Jonathan Collins as CFO, effective August 10, succeeding Todd Fister, who will become President and COO. Collins joins from Clarivate, where he had served as CFO since 2021, and was previously CFO of Dana.

-Masco appointed Brad Hiranaga to the newly created role of CMO. He joins from Marriott International, where he served as SVP, Global Brand, Experience & Design, and previously served as Chief Brand Officer of Cotopaxi and CMO of General Mills.

-Ivan Brockman joined Flex as EVP of business transformation after 17 years with PJT Partners and Blackstone.

-Joe Sullivan, former Chief Security Officer of Meta, Uber, and Cloudflare, joined Costanoa Ventures as a venture partner.

Heard on the Street

The biggest lateral story of the week came from Gibson Dunn, which recruited William Savitt along with five other litigation partners from Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Savitt, who co-chaired Wachtell's executive committee and litigation department, will now co-chair Gibson Dunn's litigation practice group. The move is being described as one of the most significant BigLaw lateral departures of 2026. The American Lawyer reported that the deal came together quickly after a meeting between Savitt and Orin Snyder, co-chair of Gibson Dunn's trials practice. The departure is raising questions about the sustainability of Wachtell's pure lockstep compensation model, as several outlets noted the firm has historically maintained one of the lowest partner turnover rates in BigLaw.

Forbes noted that the C-suite is increasingly concentrating around hybrid leadership roles that sit at the intersection of strategy, execution, and accountability, with Chief AI Officer, Chief Growth Officer, and Chief Transformation Officer titles growing the fastest.

Ballard Partners, Washington's top lobbying firm known for its ties to the Trump administration, announced it will open an office in Caracas, Venezuela, signaling growing commercial interest in the region.

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.