Sidley Adds WilmerHale Partners to Build Boston Capital Practice

Sidley Austin hired the chair of WilmerHale’s corporate group and a partner from that practice to start an emerging companies and capital markets team in Boston.

Sidley on Monday announced the new roles for Jason Kropp, who spent more than 20 years at WilmerHale, including the past nine month as corporate chair, and Craig Hilts, who worked eight years at the firm.

“We feel like having them as the foundation for a corporate practice in Boston is really a recipe for success,” said Sharon Flanagan, Sidley executive committee member and leader of the firm’s global life sciences practice.

Sidley has been building its emerging companies and venture capital practice with hires that have included Holland & Knight’s Enrique Conde, Latham & Watkins’ Michael Podolny, and Cooley’s Shane Goudey. It also picked up Mathew Eapen from Kirkland & Ellis.

Boston is home to life sciences, technology and digital health companies as well as an active private equity market. “It makes perfect sense to be where the innovation is happening,” Flanagan said.

Sidley’s platform creates “lots of opportunity for us to step up the kind of work we can do for the clients that we serve, but also to be more attractive to clients that we seek to work with in the future,” Kropp said.

Kropp has advised companies including Wellington Management and General Catalyst across a range of industries, including life sciences, biotechnology and software. Hilts’ clients have included Verve Therapeutices, Fulcrum Therapeutics, and Telix Pharmaceuticals, among others.

Hilts said market volatility tempered enthusiasm for the initial public offering market. Still, clients are finding creative ways to manage cash and resources, he said.

Sidley will “enable us to really give a full-service approach to those clients and help them come up with the best ways to fund their companies going forward,” Hilts said.