Kirkland ramps up New York with Weil capture

Kirkland & Ellis has snared a restructuring partner from US rival Weil Gotshal & Manges to bulk up its New York restructuring capabilities.

Christopher Marcus joins Kirkland as partner in New York. Marcus, who has advised on a number of high-profile restructurings including WorldCom in 2003, was made up in the firm’s latest round of promotions last January.

Kirkland restructuring partner Richard Cieri said: “We have had very strong activity levels in recent years in restructuring. We certainly expect the demand in this area to increase and building up our team in all our offices is important.”

Weil’s restructuring and bankruptcy team has suffered a number of departures in recent years. Last year (30 November) Dewey & Leboeuf hired Weil’s co-chair of business finance and restructuring, Martin Bienenstock, along with partner Judy Liu and associate Timothy Karcher.

Marcus is the latest Weil partner to defect to Kirkland. Weil partner Paul Basta joined the Chicago headquartered firm in 2006. Kirkland has also snared three associates from Weil’s bankruptcy and restructuring team this year.

Weil’s head of business finance and restructuring Marcia Goldstein said: “We are exceptionally busy in this practice area. We have one of the best bankruptcy and restructuring teams in the US and we will continue to be dominant in this area.”