Weil, Gotshal & Manges‘ structured finance practice in the City has been hit by the departure of two lawyers with partner Rupert Wall heading to Sidley Austin and senior associate Chris McGarry making partner at Ropes & Gray.
The exits come as firms look to bulk up their presence in the securitisation markets after the fall off in work seen post-financial crisis ends and politicians start to see the markets as an alternative to bank lending and a prime way to get investment flowing back into the real economy.
Wall made partner at Weil in 2012 and is listed as a leading individual for securitisation in The Legal 500. He has experience in a range of asset classes including trade receivables, credit-card receivables, auto loans, vehicle rental fleets and mortgage loans, and in using a variety of structures, including collateralised loan obligations (CLO), asset-backed commercial paper conduits and whole business securitisations.
Sidley’s London managing partner and co-head of its global finance team, Matthew Dening, told Legal Business: ‘We have seen a recovery in the securitisation markets in the US and we are starting to see signs of one in Europe which we expect to gather pace. Rupert’s hire helps position us for this recovery.’
McGarry, who was a senior associate at Weil but makes partner in the move to Ropes, has focused on CLOs for arrangers, sponsors, originators and investors though also covers consumer asset-backed securitisation, trade receivables and restructurings. Before Weil, McGarry worked as an associate at Clifford Chance and as vice president in Royal Bank of Scotland’s structured finance team.
‘Chris will play a key role as we ramp-up our CLO and securitisations capabilities in London,’ said Jane Rogers, co-leader of Ropes’ London-based finance practice group which also hired structured finance partner Partha Pal in May 2015 from Chadbourne & Parke.
michael.west@legalease.co.uk