Sidley Austin has added a lawyer from Paul Weiss in New York as it continues to grow its private equity offering. 

John Godfrey has joined Sidley’s 500-lawyer M&A and private equity practice as a partner having been a counsel at Paul Weiss, where he advised Apollo Global Management on several transactions including its $8.1bn take-private acquisition of Univar Solutions.

“John’s experience supporting private equity and their portfolio companies makes him a great fit for our New York office and the continued growth of our client relationships,” said Nancy Chung, managing partner of Sidley’s New York office and a member of the firm’s executive committee. “He has worked closely with several of our clients and lawyers, which will help him hit the ground running.”

Godfrey is the 12th lawyer Sidley has added from Paul Weiss over the past 10 months, including M&A and private equity partners Jeffrey Kochian, Gerald Brant, Brittany Harrison and counsel Erika Cohen in New York.

The firm also hired Ramy Wahbeh in London as co-head of its global private equity practice alongside a team that included partner Kaisa Kuusk, a pair of counsel and three associates.  

“By adding John to our M&A and PE practice, we will further expand our support of private equity clients and one of our existing bulge bracket private equity funds,” said Brian Fahrney, global co-leader of Sidley’s M&A and private equity practice group and a member of its management and executive committees. “His addition brings a combination of expertise, fresh perspectives and enhanced client services to our practice.”

For his part Godfrey brings more than a decade of experience in public and private company sales and acquisitions, with a record in platform strategies, roll-up strategies, divestitures, joint ventures, minority investments and other complex transactions on behalf of private equity investors.

Alongside his work for Apollo he has advised on multibillion dollar deals for Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Chesapeake Lodging Trust and The Medicines Company, among other clients.  

Sidley also bolstered its M&A and PE team in New York in January with the hire of partners David D’Urso and Elazar Guttman from Akin, where D’Urso had led the US private equity and M&A practice.