The Powerful City Lawyer at the Center of a Private Equity Storm

Neel Sachdev has a reputation for going above and beyond to ensure his private equity clients get what they want. The power the London lawyer wields over Europe’s $2 trillion buyout market is testament to that, and a reflection of the dominant debt finance practice he has built at US law firm Kirkland & Ellis over the past decade.

Now, however, tactics he has used to his clients’ advantage — such as influencing which law firms he comes up against in deal negotiations and even playing a role in the recruitment of lawyers into rival law firms — are facing ...