Two Weil regulatory partners who previously worked at the US Securities and Exchange Commission have jumped to Skadden, as their former firm faces questions over its future.
Andrew Dean has joined Skadden's white collar and investigations group in New York and Christopher Mulligan has joined the investment management group in Washington DC. Skadden said the partners, who bring extensive experience in asset management examinations and enforcement, would strengthen its private capital advisory team and build on the hire of investment management partners Robert Griffin, Kapil Vishnu Pandit and Skye Smith from Akin in June.
News of their move coincided with a report by the Financial Times on Tuesday that Weil had engaged Brian Polk, one of Davis Polk's top restructuring lawyers, to consider its options, including a possible wind-down, amid an ongoing slew of partner exits and a breakdown in talks to combine with another firm.
Jeremy London, Skadden's executive partner, said Dean and Mulligan brought an "exceptional" combination of SEC experience, asset management knowledge and understanding of the agency’s regulatory, examination and enforcement priorities.
"They are a natural complement to our existing SEC and white collar practice and will enhance the advice we provide to investment management clients navigating an increasingly complex regulatory environment,” he added.
Both partners joined Weil within the last three years after long stints at the SEC, where Dean served as co-chief of the enforcement division’s asset management unit. He advises clients on government and internal investigations, regulatory enforcement actions, related civil litigation and regulatory and compliance issues, including in the asset management context.
Meanwhile, Mulligan advises asset managers on matters including SEC examinations and investigations, marketing rule compliance, fund formation issues and mock examinations. At the SEC, he served as a private funds senior advisor and as co-coordinator of the agency’s private funds specialised working group.
Dean and Mulligan add to a clutch of partners that have defected from Weil's US practice in the past few weeks, according to the Wall Street Journal. Appellate lawyer Drew Tulumello and securities litigation specialist Caroline Zalka, both members of Weil’s management committee, are expected to join Davis Polk and Paul Weiss respectively, while it is anticipated that corporate co-managing partner Lyuba Goltser will join Sidley Austin.
They follow more than two dozen partners leaving Weil in the US and London in recent months, among them one of the firm’s best-known US corporate dealmakers, Michael Aiello, who left for Cravath Swaine & Moore in September alongside five other M&A partners.
Amid the exits, Weil began merger talks with New York firm Willkie, though these ended late last week, according to Bloomberg Law, which said the two sides had signed a non-disclosure agreement to discuss a tie-up.
Also last week, the Financial Times reported that Ramona Nee, who had been due to take over as Weil's executive partner in January from longtime leader Barry Wolf, had told the firm she will not take up the post and has held talks with other law firms interested in hiring her.
Weil was approached for comment.
Email your news and story ideas to: [email protected]
