Davis Polk’s London practice was featured in Legal Business in connection with the recent growth of the office, including through several lateral hires. The article noted that four partners – Mark Knight, Jifree Cader, Luke McDougall and Gordon Milne – have been announced to join the London office over the past six months, bringing the total lawyer count to over 60 while establishing a new practice area and bolstering expertise in others.

Davis Polk Chair and Managing Partner Neil Barr said, “We realized that our London platform wasn’t scaled to deliver the full spectrum of services we wanted for our clients, which prompted us to rethink our approach.”

Will Pearce, Davis Polk partner and Europe practice head, noted, “With the increased importance of private capital for transactions, and in step with developments in New York, it became clear there was a real client-driven opportunity to strengthen our finance capability and add UK and European-focused private equity to our M&A practice.”

He described it as a “natural evolution of what we’ve achieved in London over the last ten years or so.”

Discussing Mark and Jifree’s arrivals to the firm, Neil said that their hires were “a natural next step” in kickstarting the firm’s European restructuring practice.

In addition to Luke, who joined the firm’s London Finance team in May, Aaron Ferner was promoted to partner in July. Neil said, “This expanded team brings greater depth and scale, enhancing our ability to service matters that are not only U.S.-based but also sourced out of the UK.”

Luke noted that part of the appeal in joining Davis Polk was the unique opportunity to join at a critical juncture in the development of its London operations, bringing with him a robust reputation and extensive experience in UK and cross-border leveraged finance, corporate finance, and restructuring.

Gordon, who is leading the growth of Davis Polk’s private equity practice in London, noted, “U.S. PE firms are increasingly seeing potential value in European assets, and we see clear opportunities in our ability to advise our U.S. clients on current European market practice. Furthermore, European PE clients and their portfolio companies are increasingly looking to acquire assets in the U.S. or tap the greater pools of capital in the U.S.”

“London remains a global hub,” he continued. “It is fundamental to have top-tier legal expertise in London.”

Discussing Luke and Gordon’s arrivals, Will said, “In Luke and Gordon, respectively, we found a visible, well-connected leveraged finance partner with a track record of business growth, and a seasoned private equity partner with longstanding European relationships.”

Neil added, “We recognized them as lawyers with established client followings, who were highly likely to bring those relationships to Davis Polk, and that has indeed proven to be the case.”

The article also noted a number of U.S. hires in 2024, including partners Andrew Ahern, Alisa Waxman, Luke Eldridge, Elena Millerman, Nick Caro and Chris Healey.

“‘With an open checkbook, they’ll likely target top talent’ – Davis Polk turns heads with London scale-up,” Legal Business (November 25, 2024)

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