Kirkland & Ellis has poached Clifford Chance’s infrastructure co-head in London as it builds out a team in the sector in Europe.
The US law firm has hired Clifford Chance London M&A partner Toby Parkinson as a partner, according to three people with knowledge of the move.
Kirkland confirmed Parkinson was joining the firm to co-lead its expansion in the European energy and infrastructure sector. Clifford Chance declined to comment.
Parkinson’s move comes after Kirkland added two partners from Allen & Overy and one from Clifford Chance to launch its London team in the infrastructure space.
He joins A&O’s infrastructure co-head Sara Pickersgill, A&O funds partner Paul Sampson, and Clifford Chance debt finance partner James Boswell in heading to Kirkland.
Parkinson trained at Clifford Chance before moving to the infrastructure arm of private equity firm Omers in 2016.
He rejoined Clifford Chance as a partner in 2019, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“Toby is recognised as one of the top infrastructure M&A lawyers in the market,” said Jon Ballis, chair of Kirkland’s executive committee. “Together with our other recent infrastructure hires and our leading private equity M&A team, he will further enhance our infrastructure transaction capability in Europe.”
One Kirkland partner told Financial News last month that the new infrastructure team represents “another pillar” in the firm’s private equity sponsor coverage, while another Kirkland partner said the sector represented “untapped potential” for the firm’s European business.
Kirkland’s average profit per equity partner was $7.38m in 2021, according to American Lawyer magazine, outstripping A&O and Clifford Chance, which posted PEP of £1.95m and £2.04m respectively in the year to 30 April.
The US firm has repeatedly raided Magic Circle firms in London for hires in recent years, using its superior profitability to take top lawyers from its UK rivals.
Last week it emerged that Kirkland London M&A partner David Holdsworth is set to leave the firm to join private equity firm TDR Capital as its top lawyer.
Kirkland changed its partner track last year to allow non-share partners to move up to its equity partnership after three years rather than four.
Under the new system, equity partners are paid $1.5m in compensation in their first year post-promotion, before moving on to participate in the firm’s variable profit-sharing pool.
One Kirkland partner described it as a “ramp-up-year in terms of economics”, while another described it as a “stepping stone” to the firm’s profit-sharing pool.
From Financial News
https://www.penews.com/articles/clifford-chance-ma-partner-poached-by-kirkland-as-part-of-infra-push-20221018
