Reed Smith has hired David Brennan as a partner in the firm’s London corporate team from Gowling WLG, where he was co-head of the technology sector group.
With experience spanning equity capital markets (ECM) and private and public M&A, he has acted on a broad range of fundraising matters on both the issuer and bank sides, including IPOs, secondaries, buyouts and Takeover Code matters.
Having initially trained in mining, projects and infrastructure, Brennan’s focus for much of the past 11 years has been on the technology sector, where he has advised companies throughout their lifecycle, from start-ups and scale-ups to successful exits.
His expertise also spans the media, pharmaceuticals, biotech and fintech sectors, and he has represented founders, management teams, banks and investors in complex cross-border transactions, giving him a diverse practice and a broad client base.
The move boosts Reed Smith’s ECM and corporate capabilities in London while enhancing its broader capital markets and M&A offering. He will also work closely with Reed Smith’s funds, tax, regulatory, competition, finance and technology teams.
Brennan is the latest addition to the firm’s corporate finance offering following the September arrival of private capital lawyer Andy Houghton from Proskauer Rose, while it picked up former Allen & Overy finance regulation specialist Damian Carolan in November 2025, a year after leaving the legacy firm. Reed Smith also hired one of Brennan’s former ECM colleagues at Gowlings, Samantha Myers, in February last year.
Other previous hires include former Linklaters capital markets partner Mark Drury, who joined in 2023 as part of a rebuild of the finance team following a series of exits in 2020. However, the firm saw partner moves to Cadwalader in fund finance last year.
Mike Young, European co-chair of the corporate group, said Brennan was “a highly respected corporate lawyer with deep experience in technology and growth capital markets”.
Young added: “His track record advising founders, investors and listed companies on complex, cross-border transactions makes him a valuable addition to our London team. He will play a key role in strengthening our ECM and M&A offering while supporting our broader strategy to build a leading global corporate practice.”
Brigid North, Reed Smith’s London office managing partner, said: “With [Brennan] joining the team, we are building on the momentum of our London growth, ready to help clients capitalise on emerging opportunities in ECM and the broader corporate market.”
Brennan qualified at legacy firm Cobbetts, where he spent more than eight years, leaving in 2012 as part of a team move to Gowlings, where he was made a partner in 2015. The firm later merged with Wragge Lawrence Graham in 2016 to form Gowling WLG.
Writing on LinkedIn in December, he said, it had “been an absolutely wonderful journey from associate solicitor through to equity partner, and I’m very fortunate to have worked alongside an immensely talented, thoroughly decent, supportive group of people – many of whom I am lucky enough to be able to call friends”, adding he had decided “now is the right time for me to take on a new role with different challenges and exciting opportunities ahead”.
Brennan said he was attracted to Reed Smith due to its “enviable global reach”, especially in the US and EMEA, calling it “a compelling platform for my clients as they scale and access international capital”.
Email your news and story ideas to: [email protected]
