On Tuesday, Weil Gotshal announced that Mr Arquit would be coming on board as co-head of its own antitrust practice from 1 January 2017. He will be rejoining longtime colleague Steven Newborn at Weil Gotshal, with the pair set to steer the firm’s market-leading antitrust practice side by side. Mr Arquit and Mr Newborn were colleagues at the Federal Trade Commission, where Mr Arquit served as general counsel and director of the Bureau of Competition while Mr Newborn served as the Bureau of Competition’s director of litigation. After leaving the FTC, the pair were colleagues again at New York-based legacy firm Roger & Wells before its merger with Clifford Chance in 2000. The longtime colleagues then became the highest paid partners at the Magic Circle firm, before Mr Arquit departed for Simpson Thacher in 2002 and Mr Newborn for Weil Gotshal in 2003.

Building reputation

‘We believe we already had the number one destination antitrust practice,’ said Weil executive partner Barry Wolf. ‘With Kevin’s addition, no one, I think, will doubt that.’ While Mr Arquit has not yet issued a public statement about his decision to rejoin Mr Newborn at Weil Gotshal, Mr Wolf believes that the top-tier hire ‘originated by virtue of two very close personal friends and close professional colleagues.’ He also emphasised that the firm’s decision to hire Mr Arquit has less about bringing new clients to the firm than it was about building the scope and profile of its antitrust team: ‘If ever matter stays at Simpson Thacher, that’s fine with us,’ he said.

Sources: American Lawyer; New York Times