Kirkland & Ellis has added a trio of M&A partners in Boston including rainmaker Graham Robinson from Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.
Robinson, who was head of Skadden's Boston office, has joined the firm alongside fellow partners Laura Knoll and Chadé Severin. The trio advise primarily on public company M&A transactions with a focus on the biotech space and are joined by a team of around 15 associates.
Their hires come just a week after Kirkland added investment funds partner Andrew Fink in Boston from Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian. Law firms have flocked to the city in recent years, drawn by its strong economic growth and thriving technology and life sciences sectors. Kirkland was a relatively early mover in the space, opening there in 2017, and has since grown the office to 56 partners including the latest hires.
Kirkland chairman, Jon Ballis, pointed to the incoming Skadden partners' life sciences credentials.
“Graham, Laura and Chadé are among the nation’s leading M&A lawyers and the market-leaders for biotech M&A,” Ballis said. “We’re thrilled that they are joining Kirkland.”
Robinson was vice chair of WilmerHale's corporate practice before joining Skadden in 2012, where he became one of the firm's top revenue earners. He led on major deals across the pharmaceutical, medical device and technology space at Skadden, including Array BioPharma in its $11.4bn sale to Pfizer in 2019 and Mirati Therapeutics in its $4.7bn sale to Bristol Myers Squibb in 2023. He has been ranked first by deal value and number of deals among US attorneys for public biotechnology M&A transactions since 2016, according to Deal Point Data, and also brings significant experience in the shareholder activism space.
Knoll led on the Mirati deal with Robinson and also worked with him on Array's acquisition. She has spent the past 20 years at Skadden, and advises public and private companies on matters including acquisitions and divestitures, leveraged buyouts, securities law compliance, shareholder activism defense and corporate governance.
Severin worked on the Array deal as an associate, making partner in 2021. Earlier this year she also co-led with Robinson the Skadden team that guided AspenTech on its $7.2bn acquisition by Emerson. Severin has advised boards of directors on many transactions involving controlling stockholders, both on behalf of the controlled company and the controller.
A slew of US law firms have set up shop in Boston over the past few years, among them Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Blank Rome, Paul Hastings, Arnold & Porter, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and Fenwick. UK firm Freshfields also hired a senior private capital M&A partner from Latham & Watkins earlier this year to launch a Boston office, part of a concerted US expansion drive.
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