Sidley adds 42 new partners in bumper round, leans towards litigators

Sidley adds 42 new partners in bumper round, leans towards litigators

Top 10 US firm Sidley Austin has promoted 42 lawyers to partner in its latest global round. Chicago firm's litigation group sees 11 lawyers made up in round, which is significantly larger than 2020's.

The overall size of 2021's cohort also represents a marked increase on December 2020 when the firm promoted 28 partners, 12 of whom or 43 percent were women. The proportion has dropped slightly for the latest cohort which includes 17 women, representing 40 percent of the total.

Since past few years, the US dominated the round with 34 of Sidley's new partners based there. The firm also promoted two apiece to partner in Hong Kong and Singapore, while London was the only one of its four European offices to be included in this round, seeing a quartet of lawyers made up.

Washington DC saw the maximum number of promotions if compared to any office, with nine. It includes litigation trio Shawn Higgins, Julia Mirabella and Benjamin Mundel and regulatory and enforcement duo J. Simone Jones and Christopher Mills.

Sidley's Chicago headquarters has seven new partners, two of whom, Karim Basaria and Christopher Lee, have been made up in the litigation practice. New York also has seen similarly seven more promoted, including litigation quartet Francesca Brody, Simon Navarro, Charlotte Newell and Alan Rothman.

In the meantime, Century City has four new partners and Boston, Dallas and San Francisco each have two. Houston welcomed a single new partner, Atman Shukla, who was made up the energy and infrastructure practice.

In Singapore, litigator Shu Min Ho was made up along with transactions specialist Alexius Chong, who has become a partner in the firm's capital markets practice.

Hong Kong, meanwhile, saw Claudia Yu made up in Sidley's China corporate and finance group and David Kalani Lee, who has worked on a variety of complex cross border M&A transactions in China, Japan and the US, was promoted in the investment funds group.

The firm's four new partners in London have diverse practices. Among them Gordon Davidson making partner in the restructuring practice, William Gwyn in global finance, Peter McCorkell in labour, employment and immigration and James Phythian-Adams in insurance.

Regarding practice area, the rest of the promotions were a mixed bag. The firm's litigation group seeing one more lawyer, Doreen Rachal, make partner in Boston for the total of 11.

Followed by global finance with four, the firm's M&A and private equity group gained the second most new partners with seven. Real estate, energy and infrastructure, IP litigation, restructuring and healthcare and FDA each welcomed two while regulatory and enforcement and investment funds welcomed three apiece. Practice areas to gain a single partner were China corporate and finance, labour, employment and immigration, insurance and capital markets.

"This class of partners and counsel embody our talent, teamwork results philosophy," said Mike Schmidtberger, chair of Sidley's executive committee. "They are top-notch lawyers from offices across the world working dedicatedly for their clients and colleagues. We are proud to have them as our partners in the New Year."

Sidley elected litigation and disputes partner, Yvette Ostolaza as the next chair of its management committee early 2021. It makes her the first woman to lead the firm and the first Latina lawyer to be appointed to lead a top ten US law firm.

The firm also replaced its London private equity bench in August with the hire of a trio of partners from US rival Vinson & Elkins. It has lost six partners in London and Germany to Goodwin Procter over the previous 14 months.

In Nov 2021, it has unveiled an associate leadership and executive development programme. It aims to provide Sidley associates with a path to new career milestones. It includes promotions with new enhanced titles like managing associate or senior managing associate.

A full list of the promotions is a follows:

Boston

Elizabeth Marino: regulatory and enforcement

Doreen Rachal: litigation,

Century City

Mark Castiglia: M&A and private equity

Gabrielle Cuskelly: real estate

Keith Hayden Del Prete: real estate

Emily Zipperstein: M&A and private equity

Chicago

Kelechi Adibe: global finance

Karim Basaria: litigation

Christopher Lee: litigation

Joseph Michaels: M&A and private equity

Joseph Schwartz: investment funds

David Solow: global finance

Matthew Stoker: M&A and private equity

Dallas

Karen Goldstein: global finance

Lauren Grau: M&A and private equity

Hong Kong

David Kalani Lee: investment funds

Claudia Yu: China corporate and finance

Houston

Atman Shukla: energy and infrastructure,

London

Gordon Davidson: restructuring

William Gwyn: global finance

Peter McCorkell: labour, employment and immigration

James Phythian-Adams: insurance,

New York

Azad Assadipour: investment funds

Francesca Brody: litigation

William Curtin: restructuring

Simon Navarro: litigation

Charlotte Newell: litigation,

Alan Rothman: litigation

Jessica Wood: M&A and private equity

San Francisco

Rachelle Soderstrom: M&A and private equity

Sue Wang: IP litigation

Singapore

Alexius Chong: capital markets

Shu Min Ho: litigation

Washington DC

Elizabeth Hardcastle: healthcare and FDA

Shawn Higgins: litigation

Christopher Hutchison: energy and infrastructure

J. Simone Jones: regulatory and enforcement

Lauren Cranford Katzeff: IP litigation

Christopher Mills: regulatory and enforcement

Julia Mirabella: litigation

Benjamin Mundel: litigation

Jon Zucker: healthcare and FDA