White & Case Poaches Cahill M&A Leader Petillo-Décossard

A pair of partners from Cahill Gordon & Reindel, including the co-leader of its M&A group, are joining White & Case’s expanding deals lawyer roster in New York.

Kimberly Petillo-Décossard, co-leader of Cahill’s M&A and corporate advisory group, and Ross Sturman are joining White & Case as partners in the Big Apple, the firm said Monday.

They’re the latest deals lawyers jump to White & Case, which earlier this year added Troutman Pepper partner Hayden Baker to its M&A team.

The departures are just the latest turnover for Cahill, a New York-founded firm that specializes in capital markets, banking, and finance. Earlier this year Cahill saw corporate partners Corey Wright and Lisa Collier join Latham & Watkins.

The firm has also made some notable additions. Cahill last week picked up Shearman & Sterling financial restructuring and insolvency co-head Joel Moss. It hired Gerald Flattmann, King & Spalding’s global chair of life sciences patent litigation, in early January.

White & Case advised on 387 deals worth more than $133 billion as principal in 2022, according to Bloomberg data. The firm this year has advised on 43 deals totaling $41 billion, the data show.

“White & Case is clearly a market leader in global M&A with a deep bench across a number of industries, which I think will allow us to best serve our clients,” Petillo-Décossard said in an interview.

Petillo-Décossard joined Cahill in 2004. She has advised a wide range of companies, including 1-800-Flowers, Arch Capital Group Ltd., Broadridge Financial Solutions, Dyadic International, Inc., Kaspien Holdings, North European Oil Royalty Trust, and Shutterstock, Inc.

Sturman, who leaves Cahill after 13 years, advises publicly-held and private companies in connection with general corporate and securities law matters, with particular emphasis on mergers and acquisitions.

The pair were a part of the Cahill team that advised ICON plc in its $12 billion acquisition of contract research company PRA Health Sciences in 2021.

“They bring an ideal skill set to further deepen and expand our M&A team,” said Michael Deyong, White & Case’s regional section head of Americas M&A, in a statement.

Petillo-Décossard said there’s been a rebound of cross border transactions as clients seek opportunities aboard.

“We’re looking to be part of that growth and help our clients be a part of that growth and there’s no better global M&A platform to do that with than White & Case’s,” she said.