Weil has hired financial regulatory partner David Jansen in Frankfurt from Willkie Farr & Gallagher, the firm's 11th partner hire in Germany since the end of last year.
Jansen has joined as a partner in Weil's German private equity practice, which has more than doubled in size over the past year to 11 partners. He advises banks, payment service providers, insurers, asset managers and financial sponsors on the full range of regulatory matters, and brings particular in expertise in asset management and advising sponsors on complex secondary transactions.
Weil also pointed to his focus on AI, saying he had been a "pioneer" in deploying the technology in client work and was expected to support the firm in rolling out its legal AI strategy across Germany and Europe.
"With David, we are gaining one of the most respected financial regulatory lawyers in the German market," said Sebastian Pauls, co-managing partner of Weil's German offices and co-head of its German private equity practice. "Our clients are increasingly investing in regulated companies and asset managers, and fund structures are becoming ever more demanding from a regulatory standpoint. The fact that David is also one of the leading practitioners in the use of legal AI fits perfectly with the direction Weil has taken."
At Willkie, Jansen's work included advising German insurance firm Nürnberger on its combination agreement with Vienna Insurance Group and asset manager Bantleon on the acquisition of Warburg Invest. He joined the firm as a partner in 2022 after five years as counsel at Freshfields, where he acted for London Stock Exchange Group on its planned £21bn merger with Deutsche Börse, among other major deals.
Jansen's move to Weil reunites him with private equity and M&A partner Olga Stürmer, who joined in Frankfurt earlier this month after 13 years at Freshfields.
A Willkie spokesperson commented: “We wish him well.”
Earlier in the year, the firm also hired Willkie partner Kamyar Abrar to co-lead its German private equity team alongside Sebastian Pauls, who joined the firm last October from Latham & Watkins alongside five more PE lawyers.
Jansen's move comes at a time of significant churn in Weil's US and UK partnerships, which have seen a raft of high-profile exits in recent months, including PE co-head Chris Machera, who defected to Paul Weiss in August and was followed by a three-partner team.
Just today, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett confirmed the hire of PE partners Brian Parness, Simon Saitowitz, Andrew Nichol, Alexander Miachika and Charles Cooper-Isow across London and New York, while Bloomberg Law reported PE partners Tom Richards – head of Weil's London finance practice – and Max Oppenheimer were in talks to join Simpson Thacher and Paul Weiss respectively.
A Weil spokesperson said the departures "were widely anticipated and are already well understood by the market. Our immediate priority remains delivering exceptional client service and driving our growth strategy. Having recently welcomed several outstanding new hires, we look forward to announcing further high-calibre lateral additions shortly as we continue to expand."
The firm has moved quickly to restock its bench, adding at least 13 partners across banking and finance, restructuring, corporate, litigation, funds, tax and regulatory transactions alongside five partner hires into its private equity practice including Jansen and Abrar.
Earlier this week it announced that Peter Feist had rejoined from Cravath Swaine & Moore to co-lead its US private equity team, while in August Jonathan Stott and Michael Hanna were hired in San Francisco from Dechert and Kirkland & Ellis, respectively.
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