Phil Cheveley joins Sidley Austin to boost its M&A and Private Equity Practice in London

Phil Cheveley joins Sidley Austin to boost its M&A and Private Equity Practice in London

Sidley Austin, an Americana multinational law firm, has announced the hiring of Shearman & Sterling partner Phil Cheveley in its London office.

Cheveley was EMEA and Asia M&A head of Shearman & Sterling in its New York office.

Cheveley quit in less than two years after Shearman & Sterling had unveiled him as a key figure in its ambition to expand its global M&A practice after succeeding in hiring him from Travers Smith, where he was head of corporate M&A and ECM.

Shearman & Sterling is witnessing a steady outflow of senior lawyers from its international network in the backdrop of the firm's ongoing merger talks with Hogan Lovells.

It is understood that the merger talks might have unsettled many international partners like Cheveley due to the immensely superior size of Hogan Lovells' international network.

Shearman & Sterling's restructuring partner Helena Potts is also understood to be on her way to joining Paul Hastings.

Potts a high-profile London partner had joined the firm from Latham & Watkins a month after Cheveley in April 2021.

In January, Shearman & Sterling's Paris-based corporate partner Thomas Phillippe quit to join King & Spalding, while its two United Arab Emirates (UAE) offices – Abu Dhabi and Dubai – have also witnessed some outward movements.

They include energy and infrastructure projects partner Dan Feldman for King & Spalding and corporate partners Renad Younes and Jade Chu moving over to Gibson Dunn alongside finance partner Samuel Ogunlaja.

Cheveley, who is a hugely experienced lawyer, brings a broad corporate practice to Sidley Austin. His experience spans various sectors such as public and private M&A and investments, public takeovers, joint ventures, and other complex cross-border corporate and commercial arrangements.

Sidley Austin has said that it intends to use Cheveley's vast relationships and contacts with public corporates to expand its client base and offer better services across sectors including financial services, industrials, energy transition, and infrastructure.

"Having someone of Phil's experience and talent join our team speaks volumes of our growing reputation as a leading advisor for public and private M&A and private equity transactions," said Tom Thesing, managing partner of Sidley's office in London.

"Phil has also worked on the corporate aspects of a number of restructuring transactions and will collaborate closely with our busy restructuring practice as we continue to see clients exploit market opportunities on distress-driven transactions," Thesing added.