Sidley Austin has bolstered its London office by hiring high-yield partners Scott Colwell and Patrick Kwak from Latham & Watkins.
This move is the latest in a series of departures from Latham to Sidley, following the August exit of five sponsor-side leveraged finance partners, including Jayanthi Sadanandan and Sam Hamilton, who joined Sidley earlier this month.
Colwell and Kwak bring with them experience advising clients on international capital markets, corporate finance, and securities regulation, with a focus on high-yield debt securities offerings. Their client base includes issuers and investment banks across Europe, particularly in relation to debt securities offerings and leveraged transactions.
Both partners are individually recognised for high-yield finance in the Legal 500, Colwell as a leading partner and Kwak as a next-generation partner.
Earlier this month, Sidley management chair Yvette Ostolaza told LB that the firm plans to expand its London office with hires in capital markets, high yield, and disputes and investigations, along with further growth in private equity.
In June of last year, the firm hired Ramy Wahbeh as co-leader of its global private equity practice and co-head of the London corporate group, alongside M&A partner Kaisa Kuusk, both of whom joined from Paul Weiss.
The recent departures from Latham come after the introduction of a ‘super points’ rank, approved in July, designed to more effectively reward top performers by enabling them to earn nearly double the profit share of those at the top of the firm’s core lockstep. Last week, LB revealed that 22 partners worldwide are now in the ‘super points’ tier, including two based in London.
This summer, Latham also lost collateralised loan obligation (CLO) partner Alex Martin, who moved to Milbank with a team of six finance lawyers. This followed the departures of litigation and trial partners Oliver Browne and Stuart Alford KC, who joined Paul Hastings in February.
Sidley Austin and Latham did not respond to a request for comment.