Weil Gotshal & Manges is set to change its London leadership for the first time in more than two decades as M&A heavyweight Mike Francies prepares to step down.
Francies has led the elite US law firm’s London office since 2000, having joined from Magic Circle stalwart Clifford Chance in 1998. He is set to retire from the firm at the end of 2024.
Weil’s executive chair Barry Wolf told partners on 6 October that Francies would be joined as head of the London office by a pair of co-managing partners for a transition period of one year.
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Private equity M&A partner Jonathan Wood and public M&A partner David Avery-Gee are set to work with Francies at the head of the London office from 1 January, the memo to partners seen by Private Equity News’s sister title Financial News said.
“Having a full year in which David and Jonathan are working alongside Mike, prior to his retirement at the end of next year, will ensure the smoothest and most seamless leadership transition,” Wolf told partners.
Francies was one of the early movers in a major migration of London lawyers to US law firms that started as a trickle in the 1990s.
“In the early days, if you went to a pitch, you’d spend the first half hour just explaining how you pronounced Weil, reassuring the client that, yes, we do practise English law and that, no, it’s not that odd that I don’t have an American accent,” Francies told Law.com in a recent interview.
Major deals for Francies — who was listed as one of Financial News’50 most influential people in European legal services for 2023 — include advising Lone Star Funds on its €5.2bn sale of its chemicals business to chemical company Sika in 2021.
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Wood joined Weil in 2006 from Lovells with Marco Compagnoni, who remains one of the firm’s key partners in London and co-head’s the firm’s global private equity group.
Wood’s clients include private equity firms Advent International and General Atlantic, according to his profile on the firm’s website.
Avery-Gee joined Weil from Linklaters in 2019 to lead the firm’s public M&A practice in London. His major clients include mining and metals giant Glencore. Recent deals include advising Advent International on the sale of part of its shareholding in parcel locker company InPost Group to PPF Group.
Weil posted revenue of nearly $1.8bn and average profit per equity partner of $4.6m in 2022.
From Financial News
https://www.penews.com/articles/london-ma-heavyweight-prepares-to-step-down-at-weil-20231009
