Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has boosted its recently launched office in Boston with the hire of a partner apiece from Cooley and Ropes & Gray. 

Zachary Hafer has joined the firm’s government and internal investigations practice from Cooley as its first litigation partner in Boston. Meantime Yonatan Levy has joined the private funds practice from Ropes & Gray. 

“These additions underscore our commitment to Boston and will enhance our capabilities to address clients’ transactional, regulatory, enforcement and disputes needs in the region,” said Alden Millard, chair of Simpson Thacher’s executive committee, in a statement.

Hafer has spent the past three years as a partner at Cooley, before which he was Assistant US Attorney at the US Attorneys’ Office in Massachusetts. He represents companies, boards and individuals in internal and government investigations, including matters related to the Anti-Kickback Statute, the False Claims Act, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the CARES Act and related Securities and Exchange Commission matters. 

Meantime, Levy has joined the private funds practice after 11 years at Ropes, where he made partner in 2022. 

He advises fund sponsors on the formation, fundraising and operation of private investment funds across strategies ranging from growth and buyout funds to credit, energy and co-investment funds. He also advises on asset management-related transactions, including structured secondary transactions, recapitalisation transactions, management transitions, sponsor restructurings and ‘spinoffs’ of investment teams from larger organisations.

The duo bring the firm’s partner count to seven in Boston, where it opened last year after hiring registered funds partner Kenneth Burdon from Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. Corporate and private equity partner Matthew Fisher also joined last November from Kirkland & Ellis, while registered funds partner Nathan Somogie relocated from Simpson Thacher’s New York office. 

The office is led by co-managing partners David Blass and Joshua Ford Bonnie, who practice across funds regulatory and capital markets respectively and are also based in the firm’s Washington DC office. 

Levy’s hire comes hot on the heels of Simpson Thacher hiring a quartet of registered funds partners across New York and Washington DC earlier this week from Willkie Farr & Gallagher, citing a growing client focus on retail market products. Last week the firm also added funds partner Evan Hudson, who focuses on real estate and capital markets matters, to the practice in New York from Alston & Bird. 

The firm’s launch in Boston came amid an influx of law firms as the city cemented its position as a tech and life sciences hub and its financial services market exploded. Other US firms launching in the city over the past few years include Arnold & Porter, Barnes & Thornburg, Fox Rothschild, Husch Blackwell and Withers.