Shearman corporate head quits for Weil
Shearman & Sterling’s London office has been hit with a further loss, with corporate star Peter King set to join Weil Gotshal & Manges.
King, who joined Shearman from Linklaters in 2003, was responsible for developing Shearman’s City M&A and capital markets practice. His departure leaves Shearman’s London corporate practice with four partners and no head.
King is known for his big-ticket work, particularly for German corporates such as banks Depfa and Dresdner.
At Weil, which is renowned for its private equity practice, he will work in a team that includes M&A partner Ian Hamilton.
Weil managing partner Mike Francies said: “Peter’s one of a small number of English M&A lawyers who’s very highly regarded across the market by bankers and corporates alike. This is a great opportunity for the London office and the firm.”
Shearman London managing partner Anthony Ward said the firm would name a replacement corporate chief in due course.
A number of high-profile London corporate partners have left in the past few years. Jonathan Coppin joined Hogan & Hartson in 2006 and Adrian Knight joined Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom in 2005.
Readers' comments (9)
Anonymous | 7-Jul-2008 1:20 pm
peter king
unsurprising really, Shearmans were always more of a finance firm.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
A Londoner | 7-Jul-2008 3:40 pm
weils
But so is Weil Gotshal.
What is it with people leaving magic circle firms and ending up going from one US firm to the next...?
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
A corporate partner | 8-Jul-2008 3:56 pm
Shearman's corporate
I don't know how much it really matters - I've never done a deal with Shearman's on the other side.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 9-Jul-2008 10:52 am
King
It makes one wonder. Shearmans hire lots of big name M&A stars in London over the years and one by one they all leave. Is that backpedalling because of a strategic miscalculation and or is it just plain bad luck?
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Partner | 9-Jul-2008 11:07 am
Peter King
It won't really have a market impact. Nice bloke that he is, his dealflow sort of dropped off after he left Links.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
polygamous | 9-Jul-2008 11:20 am
US firms
It is funny that once magic circle partners have gone from the magic circle, they tend to move more than once.
Leaving the magic circle to go to a US firm is a bit like leaving your wife: it’s hard to do it the first time, but when you've done it once, it gets much easier after that.
The reality is that once there, US firms' London offices are playing second fiddle to New York. They can’t make local partners up and big support from NY doesn’t materialise.
And US firms in London will never have all the support services and departments that the magic circle has.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 9-Jul-2008 4:48 pm
King
Certainly speaks to the manner in which the Firm is mis-managed - look for many more departures to come!
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Bruce MacEwen; Adam Smith, Esq | 10-Jul-2008 9:23 am
The Shearman brand
I don’t get any sense of recognition of reality among partners of that firm, never mind a sense of urgency that they realise that to some extent their brand is damaged goods vis a vis where it was 10-15 years ago. I don’t get any sense that they’re trying to address things in a real, concerted way.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
NYC recruitment consultant | 10-Jul-2008 9:24 am
Stronger than expected - ?
I’m not that familiar with the London office but in New York they seem to have stemmed the bleeding somehow.
Shearman is always a place that candidates want to look at and equally you’d think it would be very fertile ground for people like me to get people out of, but we haven’t managed to budge anybody.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment