Two corporate lawyers from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison are leaving the firm’s London office to join Sidley Austin.
The lawyers, Ramy Wahbeh and Kaisa Kuusk, focus on cross-border private equity transactions, including mergers and acquisitions and strategic joint ventures, throughout Europe and elsewhere. Wahbeh is deputy head of Paul Weiss’s London office.
Two sources familiar with the matter confirmed the exits. “On behalf of the firm, we thank Ramy and Kaisa for their contributions and wish them well,” Paul Weiss spokeswoman Laura Van Drie said in a statement. Sidley spokesman Matt Messinger declined to comment.
Sidley has announced several high-profile lateral moves to the firm’s London office this year, including partners James MacArthur and Ed Freeman, who joined Sidley’s global energy, transportation, and infrastructure practice in March from Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Kieran Sharma rejoined Sidley in February as a partner in London with the firm’s global restructuring group.
Phil Cheveley also joined Sidley’s mergers and acquisitions and private equity practices as a partner in London in February.
Clients of Sidley’s two newest hires include those in the airline, finance, gambling, and manufacturing sectors.
Wahbeh has represented Apollo Global Management Inc. in its partnership with Sofinnova Partners, along with several portfolio companies of funds managed by affiliates of Apollo, such as Bremer Kreditbank AG, Catalina Holdings, and Lottomatica S.p.A, accoding to his Paul Weiss web page.
Kuusk has represented the American global investment company KKR in its acquisition of the Citation Group from Hg Capital.
Sidley’s London outpost has more than 180 lawyers, including about 50 partners, according to the firm’s website. The figures don’t include 30 “trainee” attorneys. The two departures leave Paul Weiss with four partners in London, based on the firm’s website.
—With reporting by Rose Walker.
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