Addleshaws tempts O'Melveny star away

O'Melveny & Myers has lost private equity star Andrew Carpenter, who is to join Addleshaw Goddard to head the firm's practice.

The move is a blow to O'Melveny, which is left with five partners in the City, but is a boon for Addleshaws, which gains a high-profile presence in the market (www.thelawyer. com, 24 November).

Addleshaws corporate division managing partner Paul Devitt said the hire was key to the firm's plans to grow both its private equity and alternative investment practices.

"An enhanced private equity team in London to complement our leading position in the North is a critical strand of our strategy to grow revenue in this area by 50 per cent by 2009," said Devitt.

Carpenter was one of the founding partners of O'Melveny's revised London offering, joining in 2004. Prior to that he was head of DLA Piper's City-based private equity practice.

Carpenter told The Lawyer: "I really enjoyed building up the team at O'Melveny, but I think for what I want to do Addleshaws is a much better opportunity."

He specialises in acting for institutional clients, investee companies and management teams. Clients include Cabot Square Capital, Indigo, Lyceum Capital, Montagu Private Equity and Phoenix Equity Partners.

Addleshaws' private equity group will now boast six partners, three of them, including Carpenter, being in London.