The partnership of Hogan Lovells has voted in chief executive Miguel Zaldivar for a second four-year term, the firm today (5 September) confirmed.
The move follows on from the firm’s board’s unanimous recommendation that Zaldivar (pictured) be re-elected for a term starting on 1 July 2024, subject to a partner vote, which closed at the end of August.
Last week saw several hires in the finance sector and numerous lateral hires in the international market, as London calmed down following the shock Paul Weiss moves in August.
Paul Hastings has made its third infrastructure hire in just three months, appointing partner Candice Lambeth to its energy and infrastructure practice. Moving from Weil, Lambeth specialises in domestic and cross-border M&A, joint ventures, and co-investments across the energy and infrastructure sectors.
Despite the sluggish summer hiring season, it has been busy in New York. After losing several partners to Paul Weiss, Kirkland announced it had appointed partner Adam Shapiro to its debt finance group. He brings with him a wealth of experience in restructuring, leveraged finance and syndicated lending, having served at Simpson Thacher for 16 years.
Shearman & Sterling announced it has rehired Alejandro Gordano as a capital markets partner for its Latin America group also in New York. He joins from Linklaters, where he spent over three years as counsel, having previously served as counsel at Shearman for two years starting in 2016.
Following Sidley’s hire of private equity specialists Ramy Wahbeh and Kaisa Kuusk from Paul Weiss in June, Legal Business caught up with Wahbeh along with London managing partner Tom Thesing, and partner and management committee chair Yvette Ostolaza, to discuss the recent expansion in the City.
So far this year, the firm has made a push to hire in the private equity space, recruiting seven partners in London including Wahbeh and Kuusk who both brought with them experience acting for large private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies on European and global deals.
The board of Hogan Lovells has given its unanimous recommendation for Miguel Zaldivar (pictured) to be re-elected as the firm’s chief executive for another four-year term, starting on 1 July 2024. The move will be subject to a partner vote, which closes at the end of August.
Succeeding Steve Immelt, Zaldivar assumed the role of the firm’s CEO on 1 July 2020, after previously serving as the regional CEO for Asia Pacific-Middle East, based in Hong Kong.
In July, the board of DWF Group Plc confirmed market reports that it was planning to delist from the London Stock Exchange in a buyout by private equity firm Inflexion. Having floated in 2019, the fanfare of a record £95m IPO and a valuation of £366m to make DWF the UK’s largest listed law firm has arguably not lived up to the hype.
In the four years since, the firm’s fortunes have been chequered, with its highest valuation recorded just before the pandemic hit at 141.4 pence per share in February 2020, with a drop to 90 pence per share in March 2020 and an all-time low in June 2020 of 53 pence per share.
Despite the dramatic news that Kirkland had lost a London debt finance team to Paul Weiss, it has been another relatively quiet August week for lateral hiring among UK firms.
In Washington DC, Allen & Overy announced that it had appointed Scott Cockerham as a new partner in its projects, energy, natural resources, and infrastructure practice. Cockerham joined A&O from Orrick, where he spent two years as a partner, before which he was a partner for three years at Kirkland. He is in demand by clients for his advice on the tax elements of energy and infrastructure projects, including tax equity financing and tax credit transferability transactions.
Although the frenzy of financial reporting season has begun to subside, this week saw Irwin Mitchell release its financial results for 2022/2023.
The report shows that the whole group’s overall revenue has remained steady at £276m since last year, while the group’s core businesses generated 2% more revenue than this time last year, rising from £266m to £271m.
Latham & Watkins, Macfarlanes and TLT are among the firms competing to be named Law Firm of the Year at this year’s Legal Business Awards.
Also shortlisted in the flagship category for the awards, which will take place at Grosvenor House Hotel on 19 September, are Bird & Bird, Squire Patton Boggs and Stewarts.
Debt finance rainmaker Neel Sachdev (pictured) has led a team defecting from Kirkland & Ellis to Paul Weiss, in what will be seen as a major coup for the Wall Street firm’s City ambitions.
The hire of Sachdev is arguably the most influential transfer in the City’s history since buyout star David Higgins left Freshfields for Kirkland in 2017. It is a serious show of intent for Paul Weiss in London, establishing as it does an English law offering for the first time.
