Cravath Swaine & Moore has grown its London practice with the recruitment of two leveraged finance partners from Linklaters, another sign of the prestige law firm’s moves to grow its City practice.
The move by Cravaths is another sign of the London legal battleground for legal talent among big law firms, particularly US-based firms.
Chris Medley and Rohan Saha, both seasoned lender-side leveraged finance experts who have spent their entire careers at Linklaters, have joined Cravaths to mark the firm’s second major talent acquisition in London, following its successful recruitment of finance duo Korey Fevzi and Philip Stopford from Shearman & Sterling in March 2023.
The addition of Medley and Saha is expected to significantly enhance Cravath’s leveraged finance capabilities in London, positioning the firm to serve its global client base in complex cross-border transactions.
This hire also highlights the ongoing competition between US and UK firms for top legal talent in the lucrative London market, including the aggressive moves by Paul Weiss in the City market.
For Linklaters, this departure represents another in a series of recent partner losses to US firms. The Magic Circle firm has seen several high-profile exits in recent months, including private equity M&A partner Will Aitken-Davies and antitrust specialist Nicole Kar to Paul Weiss.
Cravath’s ability to attract top talent is bolstered by its impressive financial performance, as LawFuel has previously reported. In 2023, the firm reported average profits per equity partner exceeding $6 million, significantly outpacing Linklaters’ £1.9 million figure for the year ending April 30.
US firms are increasingly challenging the traditional dominance of UK-based Magic Circle firms in the competitive City market.
Citations:
[1] https://www.law.com/international-edition/2024/09/04/linklaters-ups-us-play-with-simpson-thacher-partner-hire/
[2] https://www.lawfuel.com/linklaters-hits-departing-big-law-partners-where-it-hurts/
[3] https://www.linklaters.com/en/locations/united-states
[4] https://www.legalbusiness.co.uk/blogs/revolving-doors-two-more-linklaters-departures-as-paul-weiss-continues-to-build/
[5] https://www.law.com/international-edition/2024/01/22/linklaters-us-struggle-a-firm-specific-issue-or-a-wider-problem/
[6] https://www.legalbusiness.co.uk/blogs/revolving-doors-departures-from-clifford-chance-and-linklaters-as-us-firms-continue-to-snap-up-talent-in-london/
[7] https://www.linklaters.com/en/about-us/news-and-deals/news/2023/april/linklaters-elects-41-new-partners-and-53-counsel-globally
[8] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/linklaters-welcome-hotel-california-big-law-you-can-check-gibson-8vt9e
