Good morning,

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett was this week's most active acquirer of lateral talent, welcoming seven new partners across insurance M&A, hybrid capital, and European funds. The firm hired Joseph Cosentino and Dennis Manfredi from Clifford Chance to co-head its new insurance regulatory team, recruited a three-partner hybrid capital team from Akin Gump to anchor a new Dallas office, and added Emma Rachmaninov from Freshfields to co-lead European funds in London. Latham & Watkins added capital markets firepower with Byron Rooney and Dan Gibbons from Davis Polk, plus energy deals partner Jason Bennett from Baker Botts. Steptoe expanded litigation with four new partners, and McDermott made a statement hire in private equity, landing Weil's Robert Rizzo as co-head of the practice.

On the executive side, Brown-Forman CEO Lawson Whiting announced plans to retire as the Jack Daniel's maker navigates slowing alcohol demand. Goldman Sachs recruited Blackstone's Drummond Rice to run financial institutions coverage in equity capital markets, while SoftBank tapped former Goldman trader Mark Agne for its Vision Fund. Fortune 500 CFO appointments landed at Allstate, where Chris Lown arrives from CoStar Group, and at PVH, where Sephora's Alexis Rollier will take the finance seat in September.

Now, on to what matters for your practice today.

BigLaw Moves Sentiment

Capital markets and hybrid capital are drawing the most lateral activity this cycle, reflecting sustained deal flow expectations and firms positioning for a rebound in IPO and debt issuance volumes.

Insurance M&A is emerging as a distinct lateral magnet as insurers restructure their portfolios through billion-dollar asset sales and the steady pipeline of government-to-private hires in tax, regulatory, and investigations signals that firms expect heightened enforcement and congressional oversight to generate sustained advisory revenue through 2027.

BigLaw Moves

A few quick patterns worth noting: This week saw 36 firms welcoming 54 new partners. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett welcomed the most partners this week (7), while Clifford Chance, Akin Gump, and DLA Piper each saw three net departures. Capital markets and hybrid capital drove the highest volume of lateral activity, followed by insurance M&A. Government-to-private moves continued at a steady clip, with hires from the DOJ, Commerce Department, US Attorney's Office, and Capitol Hill.

Firms Welcoming Multiple Joiners

-Simpson Thacher & Bartlett (7):

Simpson led this week's lateral market with seven new partners. Joseph Cosentino and Dennis Manfredi joined from Clifford Chance as co-heads of the firm's new insurance and regulatory team, bringing with them the $2.3 billion Legal & General transaction pedigree. Benjamin Kralstein joined the insurance team from Mayer Brown. The firm also recruited a three-partner hybrid capital team from Akin Gump: Joshua Morry in New York, Ryan Cox as co-leader of the new Dallas office, and Payson Lyman in Boston. In London, Emma Rachmaninov joined from Freshfields to co-lead the European financial services and funds regulatory team.

-Steptoe (4):

Steptoe added four partners this week. Michael Gruden joined the cybersecurity practice in Washington, DC. Katherine Petti, Christopher Berg, and Noah Helpern joined the firm's litigation and investigations practice in Los Angeles.

-Latham & Watkins (3):

Latham added three partners. Byron Rooney and Dan Gibbons joined the capital markets practice from Davis Polk & Wardwell, with Rooney serving as global vice chair. Jason Bennett joined the energy deals practice in Houston from Baker Botts as part of a broader group hire.

-Winston Taylor (3):

Clayton Thompson, Carrie Williamson, and Jake Zolotorev joined Winston Taylor as partners in Washington, DC from DLA Piper.

-McDermott Will & Emery (2):

McDermott added two partners. Robert Rizzo joined from Weil Gotshal & Manges to co-head the private equity practice, a move firm chair Ira Coleman described as taking the practice "to another level." Adria Crowe joined the M&A and employee benefits practice in Chicago from Akerman.

-Goodwin Procter (2):

Goodwin hired two partners. Matt Bresnahan joined the life sciences group in San Diego. Margaret Webb joined the antitrust and competition practice in San Francisco.

-Holland & Knight (2):

The firm added two partners. Arya Hariharan, a senior oversight aide on the Senate and House Judiciary panels, joined the congressional investigations team in Washington, DC. Jessica Berkowitz joined as an M&A partner in Dallas from Kirkland & Ellis.

-BakerHostetler (2):

Baker welcomed two partners. Kenneth Racowski, former co-leader of Holland & Knight's antitrust team, joined the firm in Philadelphia. Christopher Raidy joined the debt finance team in Los Angeles from Reed Smith.

-Gowling WLG (2):

Imogen Benson joined as a partner and Rich Hughes joined as senior counsel in the firm's real estate finance practice from TLT.

Firms Adding Single Joiners

-Akerman added Adam von Poblitz, former global head of family office wealth advisory at Citi Private Bank, to chair the firm's family office practice in Miami.

-Arnold & Porter appointed Roger Maeda as the firm's first chief artificial intelligence officer.

-Ashurst Perkins Coie added Ryan Gaglio as a tax partner in Los Angeles.

-Baker Botts welcomed back Andrea Stover as an energy regulatory partner in Austin. She previously served as general counsel of Pedernales Electric Cooperative.

-Baker McKenzie hired Lindsay Clayton as a tax partner in Washington, DC from the US Department of Justice, where she was assistant director of the tax litigation branch.

-Buchalter added John Cha as a litigation partner in Orange County, California from Jeffer Mangels & Mitchell.

-Cleary Gottlieb hired Ben Persina as a debt finance partner in Washington, DC from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

-Cole Schotz added Jennifer Llano as a corporate partner in Miami from Holland & Knight.

-Cooley hired Michael La Marca as a partner in its global cyber, data, and privacy group in New York from Hunton Andrews Kurth.

-Davis Wright Tremaine added Derek Bishop as an employment partner in Seattle from Littler.

-DLA Piper hired Mitchell Weiss as an investment funds partner in Chicago from K&L Gates.

-Faegre Drinker added Alex Edmondson as a trust and estate planning partner in Chicago from Raines Feldman Littrell.

-Greenberg Traurig hired Andi Hasaj as a capital markets partner from O'Melveny & Myers.

-Holland & Hart added David Chung as an environmental and natural resources partner in Washington, DC from Crowell & Moring.

-Husch Blackwell hired Brad Markoff as a real estate partner in Los Angeles from Buchalter.

-Katten Muchin Rosenman added Charles Wakiwaka as a structured products and derivatives partner in London from Crowell & Moring.

-Linklaters is hiring Christopher Boehning, the Paul Weiss litigator known as longtime counsel to FIFA, along with a colleague.

-Mayer Brown added Daniel Rothberg as a real estate partner in Los Angeles from Orrick.

-Morgan Lewis hired Heidi Manschreck as a partner in its trial and investigations team in Chicago from the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois, where she was chief of the healthcare fraud section.

-Norm Law added John Budetti as partner and co-head of global private capital funds. He previously ran M37 LegalTech Strategies and before that worked at Paul Hastings and Kirkland & Ellis.

-Paul Hastings hired Brandon Etheridge, former general counsel of the Baltimore Ravens, to help launch the firm's global sports practice targeting what its leadership sees as the next major institutional asset class.

-Paul Weiss hired Jamie McLaren as an M&A partner in Hong Kong from Clifford Chance.

-Reed Smith added Bernd Dreier as a private equity partner in Munich from Norton Rose Fulbright.

-Sidley Austin hired Marissa Gluck as a global finance partner in New York from Latham & Watkins.

-Squire Patton Boggs added Trevor Kellogg, a former Commerce Department trade official, as a principal in its global public policy practice in Washington, DC.

-Taft Stettinius hired Michael Freimann as an employment partner in Denver from Frost Brown Todd.

-Troutman Pepper Locke added Mac Marshall as an energy transactional partner in Houston from Norton Rose Fulbright.

Corporate Moves Sentiment

Investment banks are actively reshuffling their coverage desks in ECM, debt capital markets, and sector-specific advisory as firms position for an anticipated acceleration in IPO and M&A activity.

The CFO carousel at Fortune 500 companies like Allstate, PVH, and Brown-Forman creates immediate advisory opportunities for law firms with strong executive compensation, corporate governance, and securities practices. T

he steady flow of AI-related executive appointments, from SoftBank's Vision Fund to Arnold & Porter's first CAIO, confirms that AI governance and integration will continue driving both legal and strategic advisory mandates.

Corporate Moves

Investment Banking Leadership

-Bank of America promoted Thorsten Pauli to lead its Asia Pacific global capital markets unit in Hong Kong. Olof Engelbrekts will succeed Pauli as Swiss chief. The bank also hired nine senior investment bankers across its regional investment banking business in the US.

-Barclays named Peter Luck, a Bank of America dealmaker, as chair of UK investment banking as the British bank looks to continue winning share in the advisory business.

-Citigroup appointed Keiran Wilson as co-head of software investment banking for the UK and EMEA. Wilson joins as managing director from Lazard and will lead the team alongside David Ibanez. Separately, Citigroup hired Vincenzo Ruggieri from UBS as head of EMEA aerospace and defence.

-Deutsche Bank hired Eleftherios Sachanidis from Standard Chartered as a managing director to expand its private banking business in Dubai.

-Goldman Sachs is bringing in Drummond Rice from Blackstone to lead financial institutions coverage in equity capital markets across the Americas, replacing the recently retired Erich Bluhm.

-Moelis & Company appointed Justin Polselli as managing director focused on debt capital markets from Jefferies.

-PwC hired Vishesh Arora from HSBC in Dubai to lead its energy M&A practice in the Middle East.

-UBS Group hired Takehiro Sakuramoto from Goldman Sachs as head of debt capital markets for Japan, as the Swiss lender seeks to rebuild its presence in Japan's corporate bond market.

-William Blair hired Michael Allwin as managing director and head of Biopharma investment banking.

Asset Managers and Financial Institutions

-Allstate appointed Christian (Chris) Lown as EVP and CFO, effective August 3. Lown most recently served as CFO of CoStar Group and previously held the same title at Freddie Mac. He succeeds Jess Merten, who will continue as President of Property Liability.

-Ally Financial appointed Mark Mathewson as Chief Information and Data Officer, effective July 20. He most recently served as divisional CIO for Capital One Financial's retail and commercial banking units, succeeding Sathish Muthukrishnan.

-Anthos Fund & Asset Management is hiring Ronald Wuijster, the long-serving head of Dutch pension giant APG Asset Management. His appointment, subject to regulatory approval, comes as the Brenninkmeijer family pushes to open their business empire to more outside investors.

-Apollo hired James Keller from Goldman Sachs as managing director in charge of investment-grade syndication within Apollo Capital Solutions. Keller previously served as group head of US debt private placements at HSBC.

-Blackstone saw Drummond Rice depart for Goldman Sachs to lead financial institutions coverage in equity capital markets across the Americas. Rice will join Goldman once the listing process for Jersey Mike's Subs is complete. Blackstone previously named Citigroup's Richard Chand as Rice's replacement. Separately, Blackstone hired Ami Momaya from KKR as head of infrastructure for India, the group's first dedicated infrastructure hire in Asia-Pacific.

-Dextra Partners hired Tyler Donofrio as vice president from Churchill Asset Management.

-Founders Fund named Ryan Beiermeister as a partner.

-GenNx360 Capital Partners appointed Adam Feuer as operating partner from One Rock Capital Partners.

-Gigascale Capital hired Simran Arora as head of finance from SemperVirens Venture Capital.

-HighVista Strategies appointed Ramit Malhotra as principal on its New York-based GP-led secondaries team.

-Michael Dell Family Office is hiring Adam Benjamin from Fidelity, where he was a portfolio manager overseeing semiconductor industry investments.

-Northern Gritstone promoted Simon Braham to Chief Investment Officer.

-Sofinnova Partners hired David Evans as partner from Roche Venture Fund.

-SoftBank Group picked Mark Agne, a former Goldman Sachs trader, to oversee finance and technology at the Vision Fund. SoftBank has been making changes across its workforce since shifting focus toward AI technologies. In April, SoftBank appointed Arm Holdings CEO Rene Haas to lead its international operations.

-Square Nine Capital hired Bari Wiley from HarbourView Equity Partners as head of business development.

-Susquehanna International Group is shutting down its China-based venture investment team, and China managing director Tim Gong is expected to leave the firm.

Corporates

-Biogen named Michael J. Parini as chief legal officer, effective August 3.

-Brown-Forman CEO Lawson Whiting plans to retire after a successor is named, as the Jack Daniel's maker navigates slowing alcohol demand and leadership succession. The company reaffirmed its fiscal-year guidance, though shares slumped 2% premarket.

-Future Standard appointed Edwin Conway as CEO.

-Garnett Station Partners promoted David Dragich and Rafi Haramati to partner, Mike Drittel to managing director, Will Edmonds to principal, and Sam Abbatacola to vice president.

-Paradigm promoted Katie Biber to COO.

-PVH appointed Alexis Rollier as CFO, effective early September. Rollier currently serves as Global CFO and Global COO of Sephora and will succeed interim CFO Melissa Stone, who assumed the role in January after previous CFO Zac Coughlin left the company to join Sirius XM Holdings.

-Ulta Beauty appointed Kelly Garcia as CTO, effective August 31. Garcia most recently served as EVP and CTO at Domino's Pizza, succeeding Mike Maresca.

Heard on the Street

On the executive side, LHH’s 2026 C-Suite Research found that executive turnover fell sharply, with high-turnover leadership teams dropping from 43% of organizations in 2025 to 19% in 2026. At the same time, AI rose to become the number-one perceived leadership skill gap, with 35% of C-suite exits now attributed to challenges or opportunities presented by AI integration. (Source: LHH, 2026 C-Suite Research)

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.