Shearman & Sterling‘s London tax head Sarah Priestley has now also quit the firm, closely following in the footsteps of global private equity chief Mark Soundy who confirmed he is leaving the firm earlier this week.
Priestley joined Shearman’s private equity (PE) team as a partner in 2013 from Weil Gotshal & Manges, where she was head of the corporate tax group. She moved over with Soundy and Simon Burrows, who also joined Shearman from Weil Gotshal in 2013.
Priestly had been at Weil for over 15 years since 1997, before joining Shearman three years ago. Her practice focuses on UK, multi-jurisdictional and pan-European M&A and PE transactions. Clients include Advent International, APAX Partners, Bridgepoint and Electra.
Shearman declined to comment on the news, and Priestley was also unavailable to discuss the matter.
This is the latest in a string of exits this week from Shearman as Paris partners Arnaud Fromion and Frederic Guillox announced yesterday (October 6) they will join Goodwin’s private equity practice in Paris as of mid-October. Goodwin’s Paris practice opened this summer with six partners and specialises in M&A, leveraged buyouts, private equity and public-to-private transactions for French and foreign private equity funds.
In March Shearman posted global revenue up 2% to $860m, with the firm’s M&A group putting in a strong performance. Shearman’s City office again outperformed the rest of the firm, though only by a small margin this year, with revenue up 3% to $149m.
georgiana.tudor@legalease.co.uk
