Newly-formed firm McDermott Will & Schulte has hired a global co-head of Cadwalader’s corporate team in New York to lead a new practice.
Ira Schacter, a veteran of Cadwalader of some 40 years, is set to lead a new financial services vertical within McDermott’s transactions practice intended to establish the firm as the go-to counsel for clients operating at the intersection of private equity, hedge funds, insurance and financial services.
His hire marks one of the first big laterals for McDermott since its merger with New York firm Schulte Roth & Zabel went live at the start of this month, creating a 1,750-lawyer firm with around $3bn in revenue.
Earlier in August the firm hired litigation partner Dan Pascucci in San Diego from Mintz, where he was co-chair of the cross-border asset recovery practice.
Schacter’s practice covers M&A and complex finance and restructurings in the financial institutions, life sciences and technology sectors. At McDermott, he is expected to lead on advising financial institutions on M&A, litigation, crisis response and complex structured finance transactions, the firm said.
“We’re moving quickly to identify areas of growth for clients, and we see a hybrid future of lending, especially in an environment where banks are no longer rivals to private credit,” said Harris Siskind, McDermott’s global transactions practice group head.
“This evolving market landscape spans multiple industries. In the age of AI and rising demand for digital infrastructure, Ira’s arrival will help to position us as the partner of choice as banks and private credit firms embark on co-financing the future.”
Last year, Schacter was part of a Cadwalader team that advised BNP Paribas on a $5bn financing of Apollo Global Management’s securitised products business, ATLAS SP Partners.
He also advised JP Morgan and other lenders in a $21bn securitisation of Hilton Hotels and related brands’ hotel franchise agreements, while on the corporate side his experience includes acting for Salix Pharmaceuticals on its $15.6bn acquisition by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International in 2015.
“Ira has been with Cadwalader for 40 years and a valuable colleague since 1985,” a Cadwalader spokesperson said. “We wish him the very best in this next chapter of his career.”
Schacter took over as co-chair of Cadwalader’s corporate practice in January, around the time Richard Brand, his predecessor in the role, left at the helm of a four partner M&A and shareholder engagement team to join White & Case in New York.
Cadwalader has seen a number of departures recently in New York, including that of a 14-lawyer real estate finance team led by practice co-chair Bonnie Neuman that decamped to Sidley Austin in April.
In June, financial restructuring partners Ingrid Bagby and Michele Maman left for Haynes & Boone, shortly after litigation partners Phara Guberman and Ken Breen moved to Foley & Lardner and Ellen Holloman exited for Kaplan Martin in the weeks following Cadwalader cutting a deal with the White House to avoid punitive executive action.
Going the other way, leading securitisation and structured products lawyer Steven Kolyer joined the firm in New York earlier this month from Sidley Austin as co-head of its commercial real estate collateralised loan obligation (CRE CLO) practice. Doug Mintz also rejoined in Washington DC in March from Schulte, where he had been co-chair of restructuring.
Cadwalader grew revenue 15% to a record $638m last year, as the Wall Street stalwart expanded its advice to private capital providers. Meanwhile, PEP rose by a third to $3.7m.
Sources with knowledge of the firm said Cadwalader was trending ahead of that record pace through to the end of July 2025 and was on track to have one of the best years in its history.
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