Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has hired a quartet of partners from White & Case and Kirkland & Ellis to grow its recently launched Chicago office.
M&A partners Shiva Sandill and Trevor Currie have joined from White & Case and will be followed by Kirkland restructuring partner David Gremling and executive compensation and employee benefits partner Lauren Cates, Simpson Thacher announced on Wednesday.
Their hires come just two months after the firm opened its Chicago office with a team of five private investment and family office partners recruited from Kirkland. In the interim, the New York firm has added a private investment and family office partner from Greenberg Traurig and relocated two existing Simpson Thacher partners who practice across restructuring and executive compensation.
Alden Millard, chair of Simpson Thacher’s executive committee, said the incoming partners "strengthen capabilities at the heart of our private capital and corporate clients’ businesses”.
“Their arrivals mark a significant step in our US growth, deepening our ability to guide clients through complex transactions, capital structure challenges and executive compensation matters,” he added.
Sandill's and Currie's practices span M&A, venture capital, corporate finance and capital markets, including acquisitions, divestitures, buyouts and recapitalisations for public and private companies, private equity funds and venture capital funds. Sandill previously served in-house at Caterpillar, the world’s largest construction-equipment manufacturer.
A White & Case spokesperson commented: "We can confirm that Shiva Sandill and Trevor Currie are leaving White & Case. We wish them well in their future endeavours."
Gremling advises on complex capital structure matters, with experience spanning Chapter 11 cases, liability management exercises, recapitalisations and financing transactions.
Cates advises on executive compensation and benefits arrangements across M&A, strategic investments and other corporate matters, including in connection with restructurings and bankruptcies. She will work closely with executive compensation partner James Beebe, who joined the firm in New York earlier this year from Milbank.
Milbank also recruited a White & Case partner in August to open in Chicago, tapping the co-head of the firm's global project development and finance practice, Nadav Klugman.
Another recent entrant to the Chicago market is Akin Gump, which launched there last autumn with a four-partner real estate funds and infrastructure M&A team it hired earlier in 2025 from Mayer Brown.
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