Showing no signs of winding down for Christmas, Paul Weiss has continued its aggressive London recruitment drive with the double hire of Clifford Chance private equity partner Christopher Sullivan and acquisition finance partner Taner Hassan.
Sullivan – a CC lifer, training and qualifying at the firm in 2008 – is recognised as a leading individual in in The Legal 500 for private equity. He works with an array of international and domestic PE houses, financial sponsors and corporates, including BlackRock, Cinven and Blackstone.
Hassan, who co-heads the overarching banking and finance team at CC alongside David Robson and has been a partner at the firm since 2008, is also recognised as a leading individual in The Legal 500 for acquisition finance. He represents borrowers and sponsors, and has a particular emphasis on handling leveraged and infrastructure financings in both European and emerging market scenarios. His key clients include EQT and Cinven.
The double hire is the latest in a flurry of hires for Paul Weiss in the capital, and follows the news last week that Linklaters competition head Nicole Kar is joining the US firm’s London office after more than two decades at the magic circle firm.
The hire of Sullivan underlines the elite US firm’s intentions to build a top-tier corporate practice, complementing the finance expertise led by rainmaker Neel Sachdev, who joined from Kirkland in August.
The double hire also raises the potential for further exits from CC, after previous recruits from Kirkland and Linklaters were followed by a number of their former colleagues to Paul Weiss.