Sidley snaps up five-partner Latham team as US firms continue battle for London talent

Sidley Austin has employed 5 sponsor-side leveraged finance companions from Latham & Watkins in London, led by Jayanthi Sadanandan and Sam Hamilton.

Corridor of Famer Hamilton and Authorized 500 acquisition finance main particular person Sadanandan are set to go away Latham after almost 15 years.

The three different companions becoming a member of them are Fergus O’Domhnaill, Joseph Kimberling and Ben Wright.

Sadanandan (pictured), who featured as a deal star in LB’s ‘Alphas Revisited’ function final 12 months, advises sponsors and corporates, with purchasers together with Permira, Blackstone, and CVC, whereas Hamilton’s key purchasers are Nordic Capital, Advanz Pharma, and Soho Home.

Sadanandan has held various administration roles at Latham together with serving as managing accomplice of the London workplace from 2015 to 2020, succeeding M&A accomplice Nick Cline after the tip of his five-year time period.  

Sadanandan and Hamilton had been a part of a four-partner workforce that moved to Latham from White & Case in 2010 in a transfer that planted the seeds for the Los Angeles-bred agency’s dominance in Europe’s leveraged finance market. The workforce additionally included finance veteran and standout performer Chris Kandel, who later moved to Morrison Foerster in 2019 and joined McDermott this Might, in addition to Brian Conway, who moved to Jones Day in 2013.

Earlier this week, it was additionally revealed {that a} Latham workforce of six different investments attorneys joined Milbank, led by finance accomplice Alex Martin. Amongst them is Kristine Kozicki, becoming a member of Milbank as particular counsel, together with 4 associates. 

The workforce fills the void at Milbank left by John Goldfinch, who joined pre-merger Allen & Overy in April as a accomplice in its world structured finance observe. Goldfinch made the transfer with 4 senior associates from Milbank: Adrian Kwok, Peter West, Eleanor Cripps, and Alexandra Wells.

Latham strengthened its banking and finance observe in Might by hiring companions Jonathan Brownson, Joydeep Choudhuri, and Prue Criddle from Cahill Gordon & Reindel in London. Brownson, a Authorized 500 Corridor of Famer for acquisition finance, spent nearly all of his profession at pre-merger Allen & Overy earlier than leaving for Cahill in 2020 with fellow finance accomplice and Authorized 500 excessive yield main particular person Jake Keaveny, in a transfer that was essential in creating Cahill’s then-nascent London finance observe.

Sidley’s latest hires comply with its recruitment of Ramy Wahbeh as co-leader of the agency’s world personal fairness observe and co-head of the London company group, together with M&A accomplice Kaisa Kuusk, each of whom joined from Paul Weiss in June of final 12 months. This adopted the March hires of James MacArthur and Ed Freeman from Weil, with MacArthur now overseeing Sidley’s European vitality, transportation, and infrastructure observe.

Nevertheless, Sidley’s London workforce skilled the departure of personal fairness accomplice Fatema Orjela—additionally recognised as a deal star in LB’s ‘Alphas Revisited’ function—who moved to McDermott in April, becoming a member of alongside Kandel. Extra lately, companions Lyndsey Laverack and Jade Williams-Adedeji left Sidley final month to be a part of Covington & Burling’s EMEA PE observe.

Whereas these departures have understandably raised questions on Sidley’s plans for London, London managing accomplice Tom Thesing informed LB in an interview earlier this 12 months that the agency stays dedicated to recruiting expertise. ‘We’ll proceed to search for expertise available in the market and develop our enterprise,’ he stated.

Sidley Austin and Latham & Wakins have been approached for remark.

elisha.juttla@legalease.co.uk