Sidley Austin has hired two senior restructuring partners in London from Clifford Chance (CC), as the US firm continues to build out its City office around private capital.
Philip Hertz and Melissa Coakley have joined the firm’s 70-strong global restructuring group as partners from CC, where Hertz was global co-head of the restructuring and insolvency group, and Coakley led the London restructuring team.
Hertz brings a broad international practice with experience handling restructuring and insolvency matters across the regulated industries involving complex capital structures. He made partner at CC in 2002 and, at Sidley, will lead the international restructuring team.
Meanwhile, Coakley advises on consensual and nonconsensual cross-border and domestic restructurings, workouts, reorganisations and formal insolvencies. She has joined Sidley as head of its European restructuring team, having spent her entire career at CC, where she made partner in 2020.
The hires follow Sidley's former London restructuring co-heads, Jifree Cader and Mark Knight, exiting last year for Davis Polk.
A CC spokesperson commented: "We thank Philip and Melissa for their contributions to the firm and wish them well for the future".
Thomas Thesing, managing partner of Sidley’s London office and a member of the firm's management and executive committees, said: "Philip and Melissa are regarded as leading international restructuring partners with a strong client following who will further elevate our market-leading global restructuring practice."
The duo's hire continues the expansion of Sidley's London office from a relatively narrow focus on finance into the private capital space. The firm has hired aggressively in London in recent years across leveraged finance, capital markets and private equity practices, including hiring 12 partners from Latham & Watkins since late 2024.
In March, the firm hired James Inness from Latham, where he had been co-head of UK equity capital markets, having recruited the firm's former global real estate co-chair, Jeremy Trinder, earlier in the year.
Likewise, during this period, the firm has promoted 15 lawyers to the partnership in London and continued its more than decade-long year-on-year revenue growth that saw the 250-lawyer office bring in nearly $300m in 2025, 32% up on the year before.
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