Sidley Austin has hit A&O Shearman for two partners and seven further lawyers across New York and Washington DC. 

In New York the firm has hired a seven-lawyer finance group led by partner Chris Jackson, who focuses on collateralised loan obligation transactions. The group also includes counsel Luke Maiman and five associates. 

Meantime in Washington DC partner Barbara Stettner, who was most recently US head of financial services regulatory at A&O Shearman, has joined Sidley’s securities enforcement and regulatory practice alongside counsel C. Wallace DeWitt.

Jackson has made the move having been a partner at legacy Allen & Overy prior to its merger with Shearman & Sterling last year. He advises underwriters, issuers, fund managers and investors in collateralised loan obligation transactions, debt fund financing facilities and bespoke debt investment products. In the past he has advised clients including Neuberger Berman and Jefferies, guiding the latter in transactions for the purchase and sale of more than $2bn in CLO securities managed by Bain.

Yvette Ostolaza, Sidley’s management committee chair, said Jackson’s hire would enhance the firm’s ability to deliver full-service, cross-practice support to its banking, insurance and private equity clients.

“The corporate CLO space is increasingly critical to our clients,” added Brian Fahrney, Sidley’s executive committee chair. “Chris’s practice not only expands our US platform, but also creates synergies with our London team, enabling seamless cross-border counsel for asset managers and financial institutions.”

The New York team has joined as Sidley continues a hiring spree in London that has seen it repeatedly target Latham & Watkins for talent and more than double its finance headcount in the city. The firm has added 10 Latham partners in the last nine months across leveraged finance, capital markets and infrastructure finance, among them Latham’s London finance co-chair, Tania Bedi, and David Stewart, who had been co-chair of the firm’s London corporate practice. 

According to sources with knowledge of the matter, Sidley has again hit Latham in London this week for partner Vladimir Mikhailovsky, who advises issuers and underwriters in capital markets and finance transactions, as well as a trio of funds lawyers from Weil led by Ed Gander, head of the firm’s London private funds group. Gander is joined by fellow partners Peter Boulle and Stephen Fox. 

Meantime in Washington DC Stettner has joined Sidley after 14 years as a partner at legacy Allen & Overy and A&O Shearman, where she also previously served as a member of the firm’s global board and as the manager of its Washington DC office. Earlier she held roles at the US Securities and Exchange Commission, including as senior counsel in its Office of International Affairs, and was a partner at O’Melveny & Myers before joining Allen & Overy in 2011 to help open its Washington DC office. 

“Barb’s practice brings synergies with our existing capabilities and client base, while also addressing key areas where we’re excited to expand,” said Kristin Graham Koehler, managing partner of Sidley’s Washington DC office. “Her addition allows us to broaden our offerings with another marquee partner who brings specialised experience to the team.”

Stettner advises US and foreign financial institutions on regulatory issues related to US and cross-border securities activities, including cross-border fund raising, as well as broker-dealer, exchange/ATS, finder and 15a-6 chaperoning and placement agent status questions. She also has a particular focus on the domestic and cross-border broker-dealer, investment adviser and bank-related regulatory issues arising in the private wealth sector.

Stettner’s hire follows former Commodities Future Trading Commision enforcement director Ian McGinley joining Sidley in New York in March. In February, Lisa Miller, former deputy assistant attorney general for the US Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, also joined Sidley in Washington DC to work with Kenneth Polite, a former assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division, on white collar criminal defense, investigation and compliance matters.