After five years in the post, and having nearly doubled the size of the office, Latham & Watkins‘ London head Nick Cline has been replaced by finance partner Jay Sadanandan (pictured).
Cline finished a five-year term as London head at the end of February and Sadanandan, who was made deputy office managing partner in March 2013, has been selected to replace him.
Sadanandan arrived at Latham just before Cline took charge of the office, having been part of a four-partner team to arrive from White & Case in January 2010. That move was the biggest lateral hire in the City that year, spearheaded by Latham’s co-chair of global banking Christopher Kandel, and catapulted Latham’s growth in capital markets. Sam Hamilton, now chair of Latham’s finance department in London, and Brian Conway, who has since moved to Jones Day, were the other partners to make the switch.
Since her arrival, Cline has helped to guide Latham’s London office from 156 lawyers to 295 lawyers, having successfully targeted growth in finance and private equity.
Sadanandan has held a number of management roles at Latham and served on the firm’s 15-strong succession committee that oversaw the retirement of longstanding global chair and managing partner Bob Dell last year. Project finance partner Bill Voge was selected to succeed Dell and took charge on 1 January.
Sadanandan is part of an acquisition finance team that The Legal 500 ranks as a first-tier operation and counts investment bank Goldman Sachs and European private equity house Permira among her clients. Sadanandan’s work for another private equity house, Onex, saw her advise on the largest European buyout in 2014 after arranging four finance facilities to purchase Swiss packaging company SIG Combibloc Group.
Employment partner Catherine Drinnan has succeeded Sadanandan as deputy office managing partner. The pair were unveiled as London’s new management during the firm’s annual partners meeting in the City last week, which concluded shortly after Latham became the largest law firm in the world
‘Nick has done a tremendous job leading the office over the past five years,’ said London-based Voge. ‘The practice has thrived under his superb leadership, and we thank him for his dedicated service. London is a bright spot for the firm and we have ambitious plans for further growth. Jay and Catherine are dynamic and energetic leaders with the right talents to lead the office at this exciting time.’
Cline added: ‘We’ve made big strides in the London market and are well-positioned for further growth and success. It will be great to have Jay and Catherine leading the continued expansion of our London office.’
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk
For more on Latham & Watkins’ ambitions see: The firm most likely – can anything halt Latham’s global rise?
