Latham & Watkins has hired a trio of M&A and private equity partners in London from Morrison & Foerster (MoFo), in a move that boosts the firm's tech transactions capabilities in the City.
The group is led by Andrew Boyd, who was previously MoFo's London managing partner. Joining him for the move are Gary Brown and Luke Rowland.
The trio advise public companies, private equity firms and other investors on cross-border corporate transactions, with a focus on the technology, AI, fintech, semiconductors and media and digital sectors. They also have a strong reputation in company representation work, advising public companies and boards of directors on corporate governance matters.
Ed Barnett, Latham's London office managing partner, commented: “At a time of strong and growing demand for technology-driven mandates, adding M&A partners of [Boyd, Brown and Rowland's] experience in London not only builds on our momentum in the City, but also reinforces our position as the go-to firm for high-end M&A in fast-growing tech sectors.”
Between them, Boyd and Brown, who are returning to Latham after a decade as partners at MoFo, have advised clients including Uber, Visa and Cambridge Quantum Computing. They have also advised Softbank – a major client of Latham's – on numerous deals, including its $1bn investment in UK AI unicorn Wayve and its £24.3bn takeover of chip designer ARM Holdings.
For its part, earlier this year, Latham advised SoftBank on a $70m Series B funding round for AI software creation platform Emergent and acted for a group of arrangers led by Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Mizuho on $40bn bridge facilities provided to SoftBank for investments in OpenAI.
Meanwhile, Rowland, who made partner at MoFo earlier this year, has worked with clients including Shire and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange as well as Visa and Softbank.
At Latham, the trio will be part of the largest London team of any US firm, with around 530 lawyers, including approximately 140 in its top-tier M&A practice.
The office saw an unprecedented wave of partner exits in 2024 amid a heated lateral market for private equity and finance talent and Latham's introduction of "super points" to reward top-billing rainmakers. But it has since rebuilt its City ranks with key lateral hires, including a trio of real estate finance partners from A&O Shearman, who joined in January, and private equity partner Ross Allardice, who joined from White & Case last summer.
MoFo has named Ben Summerfield as Boyd's successor as managing partner of its 60-strong London office. Summerfield has led the firm's London litigation team for the past three years and will continue in that role alongside his new appointment, MoFo said.
Jennifer Marines, MoFo's vice chair, commented: “We thank Andrew, Gary and Luke for their contributions to the firm and wish them well.
She added that the firm had hired nine lateral partners into its London transactions department over the past 10 months, alongside litigation hires, including a tech transactions and TMT M&A trio that joined from Morgan Lewis and Baker McKenzie earlier this month.
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