Kirkland makes up 64 as London growth continues

Kirkland & Ellis has radically bolstered its London corporate capability with the promotion of two specialists to its partnership and hire of a swathe of supporting associates.

London-based corporate lawyers Christopher Field and Abrielle Rosenthal have been promoted to the firm’s partnership, along with banking attorney Neel Sachdev. This takes the London office to 22 partners, 16 of which are in the corporate team.

At the same time, Kirkland has announced the appointment of 10 associates in London over the last six weeks, including seven in the corporate team. The remaining three join the banking, tax and restructuring teams.

Corporate partner James Learner said the appointments followed a “very successful year in the London office and these new appointments reflect our commitment to build for the future”.

The firm has been on an aggressive expansion campaign in London of late, which most notably resulted in the hire of private equity stars Graham White and Raymond McKeeve from Linklaters in March and leveraged finance partner Stephen Gillespie from Allen & Overy in April.

The London promotions are part of a class of 64 lawyers who have been promoted globally, including 27 in the firm’s Chicago headquarters, eight in Los Angeles, 15 in New York, six in San Francisco and five in Washington DC.

Field specialises in M&A, most notably leveraged buy-outs and take privates, while Rosenthal focuses on advising private equity funds. Meanwhile, Sachdev has a wide ranging banking and debt finance practice which includes leveraged finance, capital markets, securitisation and derivatives.