Paul Hastings has hired corporate partner Mark Zerdin from Slaughter and May as it rebuilds its London bench following a series of senior exits over the past year.
Zerdin’s move marks a rare departure from the City stalwart, particularly from its corporate practice. He has been a partner at the firm since 2007 and is currently co-head of its sports team and head of its Latin American practice, advising on transactions for sports teams, sporting regulatory bodies, corporates, private equity clients and family offices.
Slaughters, which is the only major UK law firm still operating a traditional pure lockstep compensation model, saw two partners leave last year: Oliver Wicker, who led the firm’s derivatives practice, moved to Simmons & Simmons in December, while M&A partner Paul Mudie departed for personal reasons, according to reports.
Zerdin’s principal areas of work are public takeovers, private acquisitions and disposals, private equity investment and joint ventures. He has advised the Football Association Premier League on a number of matters arising out of the application of the Premier League Rules; his experience also includes advising TWG Motorsports and General Motors on their application to compete in the FIA Formula One World Championship under the name of Cadillac Formula 1 Team.
A Slaughter and May spokesperson commented: “We confirm that Mark is retiring from the partnership and we wish him well.”
Zerdin’s hire continues intense efforts by Paul Hastings to bolster its London bench strength, where it has added 10 lateral partners in the past six months, including private equity partner Ferish Patel from Cooley earlier this month. It has also recruited partners across investment funds, fund finance, structured credit, tax, antitrust and employee incentives.
The hires have offset a slew of senior departures over the past year, most recently in February with a two-partner finance lawyer transfer to Sullivan & Cromwell. Former London co-chair Mei Lian moved to Magic Circle firm Linklaters last summer, while leveraged finance partners Edward Holmes and Alexander Horstmann-Caines exited for Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft and KKR, respectively.
The aggressive hiring strategy appears to be paying off – Paul Hastings’ London revenue jumped 25% to $272.4m in the year to 31 January 2025, according to Legal Business, marking the office as a standout performer in a year that saw the firm’s global revenue jump 20% to a record high of $2.68bn.
It has also earned the distinction of being the leading firm for global deal value growth over the past two years, according to Bloomberg, with a 2025 total deal value nearly 14 times higher than the 2023 total, an increase to $275bn from $20bn.
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