Davis Polk has hired Hogan Lovells' global head of M&A on the eve of the latter's merger with Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft.
Bill Curtin has joined the firm as a partner in its M&A practice in Washington DC after 30 years at Hogan Lovells, where he worked on deals amounting to more than $100bn in aggregate transaction value for clients including Airbus, Coca-Cola, Dell Technologies and Ford. He also co-led the Hogan Lovells team that advised Ingredion on its £3.7bn recommended takeover of Tate & Lyle, announced earlier this month.
Davis Polk's chair, Neil Barr, said Curtin was a "respected senior M&A practitioner with a track record of working on the most sophisticated and consequential transactions" in the market.
“We're pleased to welcome him to Davis Polk as we continue to grow our platform in Washington to provide a full-service corporate offering in the region,” he added.
News of Curtin's hire comes just days ahead of Hogan's merger with Cadwalader going live on 1 July, a tie-up that will create a firm with more than 3,000 lawyers globally and revenue in the region of $3.6bn.
new firm promises to create a “scaled global finance platform” combining Hogan Lovells’ corporate and M&A, regulatory, IP and litigation heft with Cadwalader’s strength in finance, structured products and capital markets.
Curtin's move to Davis Polk – one of the most the most profitable firms in the US, with profit per equity partner approaching $10m – follows the firm hiring M&A partner Lee Parnes in New York last September from Sullivan & Cromwell. Earlier last year, it also picked up Michael Diz in San Francisco from Debevoise & Plimpton, where he had been co-chair of M&A.
Recently, the firm's M&A team advised GSK on its $10.6bn acquisition of US cancer drug developer Nuvalent and CoreWeave on its $9bn acquisition of crypto miner Core Scientific.
For his part, Curtin had been a partner at Hogan Lovells since 2003 and had led the M&A practice for the past decade. He also served on the firm's global board.
“Davis Polk is widely regarded for both its high-calibre M&A practice and its uniquely team-oriented culture. I'm excited to join such a distinguished firm and to build on its impressive expansion in Washington," Curtin said in a statement.
The Washington office was also boosted in April with the hire of star appellate lawyer Kannon Shanmugam from Paul Weiss, along with partner Masha Hansford, to launch Davis Polk's new Supreme Court and appellate practice.
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