Latham & Watkins has hired CLO partners Franz Ranero and James Smallwood from A&O Shearman to strengthen its structured finance practice in London.
The move follows a string of finance partner exits from Latham last year and signals a rebuild in a key market area.
Latham & Watkins has hired partners Franz Ranero and James Smallwood from A&O Shearman, adding serious weight to its structured finance bench in London.
The pair are well-known in the CLO market and bring decades of experience advising on both the arranger and manager side, while also advising on structured products and bespoke funding transactions.
Bigger picture
The move is a notable one, particularly in relation to Ranero who is one of the most highly-regarded names in the European CLO market.
Ranero is ranked Band 1 for structured finance by Chambers, listed as "Highly Regarded" by IFLR1000 and sits in the Legal 500 Hall of Fame for securitisation - where he’s described as a "grand master" of the CLO market.
Their arrival gives Latham more firepower in one of the most competitive areas of the finance market, where it regularly goes up against the likes of A&O, Milbank and Cadwalader for top-tier CLO work.
Project rebuild
The hires follow a bruising 2024 for Latham in London, where it lost 13 partners to rivals overall - including 18 leveraged finance lawyers to Sidley Austin alone. Latham had the highest attrition of any firm last year, according to data from Edwards Gibson.
Latham’s structured finance team took a hit last summer when Milbank lured away a six-lawyer group led by partner Alex Martin.
The arrival of Ranero and Smallwood are part of Latham’s rebuild and a sign the firm is back on the offensive in structured finance. They’re the firm’s fourth and fifth partner hires in London this year, after recent moves in banking, tax and tech.
Latham also made up nine new London partners earlier in the year.
For A&O
As for A&O, the losses leave the firm’s CLO practice with just one partner in London: Tom Constance.
Former structured finance partner John Goldfinch joined the firm early last year (pre-merger) in a high-profile move from Milbank but left the firm after a drink-driving conviction. He’s now at Proskauer.
What they said
"Franz and James are market-leading practitioners with a wealth of experience advising on sophisticated transactions that are the hallmark of our practice", said Ed Barnett, Latham’s London managing partner.
"They will add significant firepower to our already strong global team", added Jeremiah Wagner, global co-chair of the structured finance practice.
Jennifer Brennan, global vice chair of Latham’s finance department, called the pair "innovative, entrepreneurial, and collaborative", and praised their fit with the firm’s cross-practice finance offering.
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