With the global fund finance market forecast to grow from $1.2tr to more than $2.5tr by 2030, according to Paul Hastings’ chair Frank Lopez, law firm fund finance hiring is mirroring the trajectory of private credit and explains why firms are investing in specialist talent.
This week has seen two key hires in the fund finance world by US law firms on both sides of the Atlantic. Duncan McKay joined Gibson Dunn in New York from Fried Frank as its head of fund finance, with Shukie Grossman, global chair of the firm’s investment funds practice group, noting McKay’s hire comes amid growing demand for liquidity solutions and fund finance products.
Meanwhile, Jennifer Passagne joined Paul Hastings in London from Haynes Boone, reflecting the same trend. Like McKay, Passagne brings expertise in NAV facilities, hybrid structures, GP support lines and capital call facilities – areas central to fund finance practices, strengthening the firm’s ability to advise on complex fund-level financing.
Firms are hiring experienced lawyers who can deliver immediately, which, as fund finance recruiter Brickfield’s most recent report shows, also affects compensation. Nor is Brickfield the only recruiter to notice. Writing in 2024, a report by legal recruiter Edward Gibson examining market trends noted that “finance and funds practices [are] driving record-breaking activity”.
This, they said, was due to “continued huge investment bets by US law firms in private capital-related hires, which, particularly since August 2023, have pumped scores of millions of dollars of additional partner compensation into a relatively closed system”.
That trend has continued in 2025, says the recruiter, citing Mayer Brown’s summer hire of a three-partner private capital team from Dechert, while they also speculated that Mike Francies’ recent arrival at Sullivan & Cromwell suggests “further near-term expansion by the Wall Street firm in London in its core areas of private capital, restructuring, and leveraged finance”.
In addition to Paul Hastings’ hire of Passagne this week, other US firms such as Kirkland & Ellis and Paul Weiss have recently made targeted hires in London, while Cadwalader expanded its fund finance team with a three-partner hire earlier this year. Kirkland previously hired Andrew Husdan from Clifford Chance, officially joining the firm this June, and Paul Weiss added Cameron Roper earlier this year to lead its fund finance offering in London.
That applies elsewhere, too. BCLP’s London office, for example, also hired Fiona Coady and associates this month, in part because of her experience with fund finance, alongside broader finance.
Where New York goes, London follows.
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