Goodwin Nabs Kramer Levin Corporate Co-Chair for Private Equity

Goodwin Procter is expanding its private equity ranks with James Moriarty, co-chair of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel’s corporate practice, in its New York and Santa Monica, Calif. offices.

Moriarty’s addition is just the latest to Goodwin’s private equity practice and comes at a time of increased private equity growth, which fueled in large part a record first half for global M&A activity this year.

Moriarty represents middle-market private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies, as well as buyers in acquisitions and sales, leveraged buyouts, growth equity financings, recapitalizations, joint ventures, and management equity arrangements, with a focus on education technology and financial services.

Goodwin has a private equity platform with a deep specialization in areas like technology and financial services, Moriarty said. Many of his deals have a technology element and often require a focus on areas such as intellectual property and privacy, where Goodwin has in-depth expertise, he said.

“The world is increasingly complicated and regulated, and in order to best service private equity clients, you really do need a deep team of specialists,” Moriarty said. “I thought my clients would really be helped with that deep bench.”

Goodwin’s growth in private equity comes amid a record year for M&A activity as pending and completed global private equity deal volume reached $965 billion in the first six months of 2021, up from $414.9 billion through the first half of 2020, according to Bloomberg data. Private equity deals accounted for 38.6% of all global M&A deals done so far this year.

Goodwin has advised on 160 private equity deals so far in 2021 worth more than $40 billion, following only Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins in total deal count, according to Bloomberg data. The firm topped the M&A legal rankings by deal volume for global mid-market private equity deals worth up to $500 million through the first six months, according to newly released M&A advisory legal tables from Bloomberg.

Moriarty joined Kramer Levin in 2010 from O’Melveny & Myers. Over the course of his career he has represented firms like Quad Partners, Shamrock Capital, and Stone Point Capital in a variety of transactions, including Quad’s recent investment in The Gardner School and Education Growth Partners in its recapitalization of higher ed online program manager All Campus.

Education is becoming increasingly tech-focused, from teaching, to managing records, to hiring staff, Moriarty said, and the trend has only accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Every company these days is really a technology company,” said A.J. Weidhaas, co-chair of Goodwin’s private equity practice. Even if clients don’t call themselves tech investors, the companies that they’re investing in are massively tech-enabled, he said. So law firms need deep expertise to take clients from cradle to exit, Weidhaas said.

Moriarty “falls right into that thesis of a practitioner with a great client base, who represents companies with a subexpertise, so to speak, in the education space who are really expanding into and taking advantage of technology as part of their thesis,” Weidhaas said. “We think we can really help those type of clients with our services.”

Moriarty will also be spending time on the West Coast, Weidhaas said, providing a senior presence to the firm’s expansion efforts in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, the latter of which launched in 2019.

Moriarty’s move was brokered by Sabina Lippman, partner and co-founder of global legal recruitment firm Lippman Jungers Bala.

Private Equity Expansion

Moriarty is just the latest lateral addition to Goodwin’s burgeoning private equity practice, which is one of the five core practices areas at the firm. It now has more than 300 lawyers across the globe.

“The growth has been tremendous over the last five years,” Weidhaas said, noting that the private equity practice is at a 25% compound annual growth rate in headcount and revenue. Though much of the growth has been organic, Weidhaas said, the firm has added several high-profile partners in recent months.

Over the last year the firm has added Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison counsel Edwin Chan in Hong Kong as well as Sidley Austin partner Jan Schinköth and Kirkland & Ellis partner Oded Schein in Germany.

In London, the firm picked up former Sidley Austin partners Erik Dahl, Christian Iwasko, Sava Savov, Michelle Tong, and John Van De North as well as Geoff O’Dea from Baker McKenzie and Hugh O’Sullivan and Dulcie Daly from Kirkland & Ellis.

In New York, the firm added Pavel Shaitanoff from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Matthew Gruenberg from Schulte Roth & Zabel, and former York Capital Management general counsel Josh Ratner.

Weidhaas said Goodwin is committed to building on its convergence strategy, where capital meets innovation, particularly in Europe, given the competition for quality deals in the U.S. and the number of quality European emerging companies.

He also noted that the firm is expanding into adjacent areas around its core practices, like restructuring in London and in the U.S. as well as healthcare regulatory work.