Kirkland & Ellis has boosted its antitrust and competition bench in London with a double hire from Weil.
Partner Nafees Saeed has joined alongside Chris Thomas, who has made partner on the move having been a counsel at Weil.
Saeed advises private capital and corporate clients on complex global transactions. He has counselled clients on high-profile merger and foreign investment reviews in recent years, and earlier this year acted for Advent in its £4.4bn takeover of FTSE 250 industrial group Spectris.
Saeed made partner at Weil last year having joined the firm in 2013 as an associate. In 2019 he had a stint on secondment at the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, where he was responsible for leading key Phase I and Phase II merger investigations – experience that dovetails with the focus of Kirkland’s London antitrust team on this area.
Meanwhile Thomas advises on all aspects of EU and UK competition law, with a particular focus on merger control and foreign investment reviews. He has spent the past six years at Weil, having trained and practised at O’Melveny & Myers.
“Nafees and Chris bring unique skill sets and insights to our business,” said Matthew Elliott, corporate partner and Kirkland executive committee member. “Both have strong track records advising private capital clients on all aspects of competition law, and we are excited to welcome them to our fully integrated London and Brussels antitrust and competition team.”
The hires bring Kirkland’s antitrust bench to 17 partners across London and Brussels, including Satyen Dhana, Simmons & Simmons former competition, antitrust and trade head who joined the firm last year.
The moves comes as law firms step up their hiring of antitrust and competition partners, driven by increased regulatory scrutiny of global transactions and a busy M&A market, as well as a competitive talent market, particularly with US firms expanding their London presence. Kirkland has not been immune; in September partner Sally Evans, who helpd build the firm’s antitrust practice across London and Brussels, decamped to Paul Hastings.
Meanwhile in May McDermott Will & Schulte hired longtime Morgan Lewis & Bockius antitrust partner Omar Shah, while Clifford Chance has added two London antitrust partners over the past year, taking Philipp Girardet from Willkie Farr and Elizabeth Sinclair, who rejoined from Amazon. The former head of DLA Piper’s UK competition team, Sarah Smith, also joined Simmons at the start of this year following Dhana’s move to Kirkland.
Email your news and story ideas to: [email protected]
