Those familiar with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett’s modus operandi will barely know what’s hit them this month as the usually conservative New York outfit launched a European restructuring practice and announced a Brussels office within a couple of days of each other.
The addition of a London restructuring practice to serve Europe is something of a coup coming as it does at a time when market commentators are predicting an uptick in distressed transactions on the back of the coronavirus downturn. Perhaps even more importantly, the move deprives Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer of one of the most influential partners of its heavyweight restructuring team in the form of Adam Gallagher. A partner since 2007, Gallagher will be joined by James Watson, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis since 2017 and a fellow Freshfields alumnus.
