Willkie Snags Two Kirkland Private Equity Partners in London

Willkie Farr & Gallagher has added two lawyers from Kirkland & Ellis to its London office to bolster its growing private equity practice.

Gavin Gordon and David Arnold have worked on “some of the most notable private equity deals in the UK and Europe,” a Willkie announcement said.

It’s unusual for Kirkland & Ellis, the top law firm in the AmLaw rankings by gross revenue, to lose partners to lateral moves. It’s particularly rare in a key group like private equity, where the firm has consistently been a leader.

Gordon represents predominately sponsor clients on leveraged buyouts, mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and infrastructure transactions. His clients have included Blackstone, Cerberus, and Searchlight Capital Partners, and Triton and Vista Equity Partners.

Arnold’s practice focuses on cross-border mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance transactions for financial investors and corporate clients. He’s worked with Bain Capital, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Blackstone Group International, and Lloyds.

“Our international private equity practice has seen tremendous deal growth with a successful track record advising multiple European and US sponsors on complex cross-border transactions,” said Claire McDaid, a partner with Willkie’s corporate & financial services department in London.

Willkie’s private equity practice group saw a shake-up recently when Gordon Caplan, who once headed the group and was the firm’s co-chair, pleaded guilty in the U.S. college admissions scandal earlier in the year, and left the firm.

New York-based Willkie is an international law firm of more than 700 attorneys with 10 offices in the United States and Europe.