Latham & Watkins has snatched up the chair of Ropes & Gray’s business restructuring practice, Ryan Dahl, along with two other partners.
Dahl has joined the firm in Chicago and New York alongside Benjamin Rhode and Natasha Hwangpo. Their arrival follows a quartet of bankruptcy partners joining Latham earlier this year from Weil and Paul Weiss, including Ray Schrock, who joined as global chair of its restructuring and special situations practice. In February John Sobolewski also joined in New York from Wachtell as global chair of liability management.
Dahl and his team bring extensive experience advising on complex business restructuring, bankruptcy and insolvency solutions, as well as liability management transactions. Dahl has advised on large bankruptcy cases, on both the debtor and lender side, including US semiconductor maker Wolfspeed and telecoms company Altice France.
“Ryan is widely recognised as one of the foremost practitioners in the field and has built a venerable restructuring practice that is highly competitive,” Schrock said. “His expertise spans debtor, sponsor and creditor mandates around the globe. Ben and Natasha likewise have earned stellar reputations for their experience, market profile and client relationships.
“Our practice continues to grow and is sought after for consequential debtor- and creditor-side matters across industries, and the arrival of Ryan, Ben and Natasha underscores our commitment to building the world’s number one restructuring and liability management practice.”
The trio previously overlapped at Kirkland & Ellis, where Dahl and Rhode were partners and Hwangpo was an associate. Dahl then had a stint at as a partner at Weil before moving to Ropes in 2020, while Rhode joined Ropes directly from Kirkland as a counsel before making partner at the firm in 2022. Meanwhile Hwangpo moved to Weil in 2018, making partner in 2021 before leaving for Ropes just over two years ago.
The trio’s move to Latham continues high lateral activity in restructuring and insolvency, as law firms anticipate their clients’ needs amid geopolitical tensions and escalating costs.
Last month Sullivan & Cromwell tapped longtime Kirkland partner Kon Asimacopoulos to lead its European restructuring and special situations practice and co-head its London office, while in July Linklaters hired an eight-lawyer restructuring and insolvency team in Paris from top local boutique Darrois.
Earlier this year partner Sunny Singh also rejoined Weil in New York from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett as a co-chair of its top-ranked global restructuring department, after a leadership position in the practice opened following Schrock’s departure.
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