Sidley's Latham raid rolls on with key capital markets hire

Sidley Austin has hired Latham & Watkins capital markets heavyweight David Stewart as a partner in London, marking the latest high-profile defection in a dramatic year of moves between the two US giants.

Stewart was co-chair of Latham’s corporate team in London and is a leading name in cross-border debt and equity capital markets work.

His arrival adds further firepower to Sidley's growing ambitions to become a top-tier finance player in the City - particularly on the sponsor side of leveraged finance deals - and extends its talent raid on Latham.

Backdrop

• Stewart becomes the ninth finance partner to leave Latham for Sidley in London over the past year - part of a broader move involving at least 18 finance lawyers, with a source telling Law.com the overall lawyer figure is closer to 40.
• His practice spans Europe, the US and the Middle East, with a client base that includes major investment banks, issuers and sponsors.
• His departure follows that of fellow London finance partner Tania Bedi, whose move to Sidley was announced in December. Bedi co-chaired Latham’s London finance team.
• The flow of talent is helping fuel Sidley's push to challenge the likes of Kirkland and Latham for dominance in sponsor-side finance work, particularly in private equity deals.

Bigger picture

Sidley’s London office has undergone a transformation over the last 12 months, with key hires including leveraged finance leaders Jay Sadanandan and Sam Hamilton - also from Latham - in August, as well as capital markets specialists Scott Colwell and Patrick Kwak in October.

The firm’s aggressive strategy has largely been at the expense of Latham, which has been forced to navigate a competitive lateral market. Latham had the highest partner attrition of any City firm last year, according to data from headhunter Edwards Gibson.

In response, Latham has made notable moves to bolster its finance ranks, most recently hiring structured finance duo Franz Ranero and James Smallwood from A&O Shearman earlier in April.

What they said

"David’s international capital markets practice across Europe, the U.S., and the Middle East is highly synergetic with our existing global capital markets offering", said Sidley management committee chair Yvette Ostolaza, adding:

"David’s relationships with the leading global investment banks is significant as many of our clients are increasing their appetite to finance strategic growth through debt and equity capital markets."

London managing partner Tom Thesing said: "David brings a wealth of cross-border experience and relationships", and his arrival is "representative of the firm’s continued investment in growing our London office ​​and the capabilities to service all the financing needs of our clients."