Paul Hastings has added senior restructuring partners in London from Hogan Lovells Cadwalader and Sidley Austin, respectively, as the US firm continues its multi-practice hiring spree in the City.
Bevis Metcalfe, who was co-chair of the financial restructuring group at legacy Cadwalader Wockersham & Taft prior to its merger with Hogan Lovells in July, has joined alongside Kirean Sharma, who previously led the London restructuring team at Sidley.
The duo boost Paul Hastings' senior restructuring bench in London following practice co-chair Mei Lian's exit for Linklaters last year and European restructuring chair William Needham's defection to Sullivan & Cromwell earlier this year.
Paul Hastings said Metcalfe and Sharma furthered its aim to develop a global restructuring platform that builds on its top-tier practice in the US. They take the firm's City restructuring team to around 20 lawyers, as part of a global group of more than 110.
Firm chair, Frank Lopez, pointed to the duo's experience and relationships across the market.
"Their practices are a strategic priority as we build a premier London and Europe special situations and restructuring platform," Lopez said. "Their track record advising on complex, multijurisdictional matters will enable us to continue to take market share at the top of the market.”
Metcalfe brings a creditor-focused practice representing banks, CLOs, multi-strategy asset managers and private credit funds in in-court and out-of-court restructurings, distressed M&A and capital solutions transactions. He was a partner at Baker McKenzie for several years before joining Cadwalader in 2022.
Sharma represents clients across the capital structure in stressed and distressed situations, including liability management transactions, in-court restructurings, out-of-court restructurings, formal insolvency processes and distressed M&A transactions. He joined Sidley as a partner, having earlier spent three years on the European investment team at Strategic Value Partners, working on distressed and special situations transactions.
The hires continue an aggressive hiring streak by Paul Hastings' London office that fuelled 25% revenue growth in the year to 31 January 2026, making it a star performer in a year when the firm's global revenue rose 20% to $2.7bn.
The firm has added more than a dozen lateral partners in London in recent months, including former Cooley private equity specialist Ferish Patel and ex-Slaughter and May corporate partner Mark Zerdin, who both joined in February. There have also been hires across the firm's high-yield, fund finance, private equity and real estate, tax, antitrust, structured credit, investment funds and employee benefits practices.
Sidley Austin declined to comment on Sharma's move. The firm made its own splashy restructuring hires in London last month when it added Philip Hertz, global co-head of Clifford Chance's restructuring and insolvency group, alongside the firm's London restructuring head, Melissa Coakley.
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