Ropes & Gray has hired a M&A partner from Kirkland & Ellis as it continues to grow its New York practice.
Michael Brueck has joined Ropes after 15 years at Kirkland, where he led on major deals for clients including Danaher, investment firm GLP and Evercore. He advises buyers, sellers and boards of directors in complex public and private M&A, as well as in corporate governance and activism defence matters. He also has extensive experience working with public companies and private equity clients on real estate and infrastructure M&A.
Brueck pointed to the growth of Ropes’ New York office, saying it “presents a perfect opportunity to grow my practice and work with some of the industry’s most accomplished attorneys”.
The Boston-based firm now has more than 500 lawyers in New York, double the number it had a decade ago. Brueck is one of several M&A partners to have joined the office in recent years after David Harris and Ariel Deckelbaum moved over from Paul Weiss, Jackie Cohen’s arrival from Weil and Suni Sreepada’s from White & Case. Deckelbaum and Sreepada led the Ropes team that advised Nippon Steel on its controversial $14.9bn merger with US Steel that completed in June.
“We’re committed to bringing in the best – people who know our clients’ industries inside and out,” said Ropes & Gray chair, Julie Jones. “Mike is a standout dealmaker with a track record of advising clients on their most consequential transactions. His arrival is a step forward as we grow our M&A practice in New York and beyond.”
Brueck practised at legacy Shearman & Sterling before joining Kirkland as a partner in 2010. During his time at Kirkland he advised life sciences firm Danaher on numerous deals including its $21.4bn acquisition of General Electric’s biopharma business in 2019. Other notable work included guiding Evercore as financial advisor to Nuance Communications in its $19.7bn acquisition by Microsoft and on the real estate side co-leading the team that acted for GLP in the $18.7bn sale of its US logistics assets to Blackstone, the largest-ever private real estate transaction globally.
A Kirkland spokesperson commented: “We thank Michael for his contribution to the firm and wish him the best of luck in the future.”
Ropes’ efforts to grow its M&A practice are bearing fruit – the firm jumped eight places to 16th in the London Stock Exchange Group’s 2024 global M&A legal advisor rankings by deal value, after working on 211 deals worth $136.8bn. Meanwhile its work on deals worth just under $70bn in the first six months of 2025 saw it rank 22nd, up from 32nd at the same time the year before.
Latham & Watkins also boosted its senior M&A bench in New York earlier this year, hiring Zach Podolsky – one of the top M&A lawyers in the US – from Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz in a rare lateral departure from the firm.
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