Paul Weiss has added yet another string to its bow, again to the detriment of Linklaters, with the hire of public M&A partner Dan Schuster-Woldan in London.
The move, the latest in Paul Weiss’ seemingly relentless onslaught on elite rivals, marks its first London partner hire of 2024.
Schuster-Woldan – a Linklaters lifer – trained at Linklaters, qualifying in 2002 and was made up to partner in 2010. He is recognised in The Legal 500 for his insurance and M&A work and was most recently co-head of the Magic Circle firm’s global insurance sector group.
Schuster-Woldan brings with him experience in public and private M&A joint ventures, equity capital markets transactions – including substantive IPOs – as well as corporate restructurings. His cross-border work has included deals in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa.
His recent mandates include advising on the proposed sale of the Telegraph newspaper and the Spectator magazine in the UK and advising on long-term savings and retirement business Phoenix Group on its £248m acquisition of SLF of Canada UK (Sun Life UK), a UK closed book life insurance company, from Sun Life Financial Inc., in 2023.
Schuster-Woldan will join Nicole Kar, the former head of Linklaters’ antitrust and foreign investment practice, who joined Paul Weiss in December. Around the same time, it hired private equity partner Christopher Sullivan and acquisition finance partner Taner Hassan from Clifford Chance.
Back in September, Paul Weiss also hired M&A partner Will Aitken-Davies from Linklaters and focused on its tax practice by hiring former Kirkland partners Timothy Lowe and Cian O’Connor, who were also previously at Linklaters. As losses continue to mount for the Magic Circle, all eyes will be on who Paul Weiss will single out next.
Paul Weiss and Linklaters have been approached for comment.