Debevoise Goes All-In on Restructuring

~1,850 words  |  ~ 7-minute read time

Good morning. This week's BigLaw activity cuts across three clear fault lines. First, the restructuring arms race: Debevoise & Plimpton hired three restructuring partners in a single day, positioning itself as a direct competitor to Kirkland & Ellis and Paul Hastings in a practice area where sustained private capital stress is generating real deal flow. Second, Weil, Gotshal & Manges absorbed its sixth Kirkland partner in a year—a deliberate platform play in private equity and private credit. Third, the lateral market's velocity is drawing direct comparisons to Kirkland's own growth playbook, with observers now asking whether Sidley Austin's aggression makes it the firm most likely to replicate Kirkland's rise.

On the C-Suite side, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen announced his succession after 18 years—the biggest software leadership story of the week, set against investor anxiety over AI disruption. Bank of America rebuilt its TMT investment banking leadership with four senior hires from Centerview, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan. And BioNTech's co-founders departed together to launch a new venture—a dual exit that will trigger governance and succession advisory needs at the firm they leave behind.

Now, on to what matters for your practice today. (Click here for the complete list of talent moves)

BigLaw Talent Moves

Private Equity and Private Credit

Weil, Gotshal & Manges added Andrew Nichol as a private equity and private funds partner in New York from Kirkland & Ellis—the sixth Kirkland partner to join Weil in the past 12 months. Skadden hired Scott Heard to lead its private credit practice in New York from Paul Hastings—a pointed move as private credit deal volume continues to grow. Sidley Austin added Jeffrey Ross as a private equity and finance partner from Debevoise & Plimpton, where he spent more than 20 years and chaired the finance group, advising clients including Warner Bros. Ross is at least the third Debevoise partner to depart in 2026. Fried Frank added Nathan Pusey as a private equity partner from Morgan Lewis in New York, bolstering its trans-Atlantic deal platform. Proskauer Rose added Vlad Bulkin in its Private Investment Funds Group from Katten Muchin Rosenman, focused on private equity, private credit, and fund formation work.

Restructuring — A Three-Firm Build-Out

Debevoise & Plimpton made its most significant restructuring investment to date, hiring three partners in New York in a single day: Rachel Ehrlich Albanese from DLA Piper as co-chair of the restructuring group, Sam Newman from Sidley Austin, and Daniel Shamah from Cooley. Debevoise Presiding Partner Peter Furci cited sustained client demand in the private capital space as the driver. The firm also announced new leadership across its leveraged finance, fund finance, and structured finance practices on March 9. Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft added Shai Schmidt as a restructuring partner in New York, and Skadden hired Matthew Murphy as a restructuring partner in Chicago from Paul Hastings. The restructuring lateral market is moving across multiple firms simultaneously—a signal of anticipated deal flow, not just talent repositioning.

Corporate M&A

Paul, Weiss continued its Houston buildout with M&A partner Jennifer Gasser from Kirkland & Ellis, strengthening its energy and infrastructure deal capabilities. Willkie Farr & Gallagher added M&A partners Maurio Fiore and Ken Halcom from Cravath, Swaine & Moore, plus Jesse Kean from Sidley Austin, in New York—bolstering its private equity and asset management M&A capabilities. Mayer Brown hired a six-partner litigation team from McGuireWoods to strengthen its energy practice in Texas and Washington, D.C., led by Yasser Madriz, former McGuireWoods Houston managing partner. Baker Botts named Joseph Halloum as West Coast M&A chair in Palo Alto, from King & Spalding. White & Case added M&A partner Gabriel Salinas in Houston.

Litigation — Government Talent Flow Continues

Kirkland & Ellis hired Matthew Galeotti as a litigation partner in New York—he previously served as acting assistant attorney general of the DOJ's Criminal Division. King & Spalding added trial partners LeElle Slifer, John Sullivan, and Katrina Eash in Dallas, continuing its Texas litigation build. BakerHostetler re-hired Robert Sowell in Orlando from the DOJ (Middle District of Florida), and added John Claud in Washington, D.C., also from DOJ, for its FDA litigation practice. Paul Hastings added securities litigation partners Daniel Laguardia and Patrick Hein from A&O Shearman in San Francisco; Laguardia will co-chair the practice. McGuireWoods added two SEC alumni to its Los Angeles practice: Gary Leung, former regional director of the SEC's Los Angeles office, and Jodie Lopez from Sidley Austin.

Capital Markets, Tax and Specialty

Cahill Gordon & Reindel hired Jeremy Duffy and Lisa Seifman from White & Case to co-chair a new digital infrastructure finance practice. Sidley Austin added payments and crypto partner Jess Cheng in New York. Vinson & Elkins hired Melissa Raciti Knapp from Freshfields as a finance partner in New York, with expertise in project finance and energy infrastructure across the U.S. and Latin America. Akin added tax partner Christopher Odell from Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago. Dechert added J.J. Jones to its cyber, privacy, and AI practice in San Francisco—Jones previously served as assistant general counsel for cybersecurity at Microsoft. Bracewell launched a new real estate special situations practice in Dallas with partners Alex Dimock and Sam Murphy from Holland & Knight.

Market Sentiment: The simultaneous three-firm restructuring build-out—Debevoise, Cadwalader, and Skadden—all adding restructuring capacity in the same week reflects real conviction about deal flow, not speculative positioning. Private capital stress, leveraged buyout vintages from 2021 and 2022, and rising rates on existing debt are producing a restructuring pipeline that firms want to be positioned for now. The Weil-Kirkland partner migration (six in a year) is a structured platform play: Weil is assembling Kirkland-trained talent systematically in PE and private credit. The DOJ-to-BigLaw litigation flow is intact—two DOJ alumni landing in a single week signals that firms are building white collar and government enforcement capacity ahead of an anticipated uptick in DOJ activity.

C-Suite and Boardroom Moves

CEO Succession

Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen announced his transition after 18 years in the role on March 12, 2026. Narayen will remain as chair of the board while Adobe's board—led by lead independent director Frank Calderoni as chair of a special committee—considers both internal and external candidates. The announcement came alongside Adobe's Q1 FY2026 earnings: revenue of $6.4 billion (up 12% year-over-year) and annualized AI product revenue that more than tripled year-over-year. Adobe shares are down approximately 23% in 2026, reflecting investor concern that AI disrupts demand for traditional creative software. BioNTech co-founders Uğur Şahin (CEO) and Özlem Türeci (Chief Medical Officer) are stepping down to launch a new venture focused on next-generation mRNA technology, creating a dual leadership vacancy at the vaccine maker.

CFO Transitions

Equinix (Fortune 500 No. 446) appointed Olivier Leonetti as CFO, effective March 16—Leonetti most recently served as CFO of Eaton and succeeds Keith Taylor, who is retiring after 27 years with the company. GXO Logistics (Fortune 500 No. 363) named Mark Suchinski CFO, effective April 1—Suchinski previously served as CFO of The GEO Group and Spirit AeroSystems, succeeding Baris Oran. Autoliv (Fortune 500 No. 407) appointed Monika Grama as CFO and EVP of Finance, effective April 1—a 17-year Autoliv veteran. She succeeds Fredrik Westin, who is joining AkzoNobel as CFO.

Investment Banking and Capital Markets Leadership

Bank of America restructured its TMT and global technology investment banking leadership with four external hires: Gary Kirkham from Centerview Partners as executive vice chair; Jason Rowe from Goldman Sachs as co-head of global technology investment banking; Mahir Zaimoglu from JPMorgan as head of TMT M&A investment banking; and Patrik Czornik, also from JPMorgan, as co-head of EMEA TMT investment banking. JPMorgan Chase hired Fergus Horrobin as head of international real estate investment banking in London from UBS. Blackstone named Rashmi Madan as global head of portfolio solutions and hired Simona Maellare from UBS as head of EMEA for private wealth.

Boardroom and Advisory

Nscale, an Nvidia-backed AI cloud provider, added former Meta executives Sheryl Sandberg and Nick Clegg to its board. Phillips 66 named ex-Dow finance chief Howard Ungerleider and former ConocoPhillips executive Kevin Meyers to its board in moves endorsed by activist investor Elliott Management. Robert Lighthizer resigned from the board of Trump Media & Technology Group. Former EY executive Jeff Soar is launching WTS UK, a tax advisory firm backed by EQT Partners, targeting Big Four accounting firm clients. Hayfin Capital (owned by Arctos) named Michael Marsh, a former Goldman Sachs partner, as head of investments.

Market Sentiment: The Adobe CEO transition is the most consequential succession event this week. An 18-year CEO departing at a $200B+ market cap company while a board committee searches for a successor means months of governance advisory work—executive compensation restructuring, succession planning, and likely M&A strategic review as the firm repositions for AI. The BioNTech dual co-founder departure is a similar trigger: two founders leaving simultaneously generates IP assignment, governance restructuring, and new venture advisory needs. Bank of America's TMT rebuild—four senior hires across two continents—signals that AI infrastructure deal flow is real enough to warrant a complete reset of coverage leadership. Firms advising banks, PE sponsors, and tech companies on AI-related transactions should be tracking these movements closely.

Heard on the Street

Is Sidley becoming the next Kirkland? That question is now being asked openly in the market. Above the Law reported on March 9 that insiders familiar with Sidley Austin's international growth strategy are drawing direct comparisons to Kirkland's rise. One person quoted in Law.com said: "It feels like it's trying to become the next Kirkland." Sidley management committee chair Yvette Ostolaza confirmed the firm had welcomed close to 50 lawyers from Latham & Watkins alone—a figure that reflects a sustained, systematic approach to talent acquisition, not opportunistic hiring.

Debevoise's restructuring build is a direct response to private capital stress. In its February 12, 2026 press release announcing the three-partner hire, Debevoise Presiding Partner Peter Furci said the firm was seeing sustained client demand for restructuring capabilities, particularly in the private capital space, as market conditions continue to put pressure on balance sheets. The firm's simultaneous announcement on March 9 of new leadership across leveraged finance, fund finance, and structured finance—including new co-chairs in each area—signals a coordinated platform build, not a reactive hire. Debevoise is targeting private equity sponsors and managers as the primary client base for this expanded practice.

The Adobe succession will be one of the most-watched CEO searches of 2026. Reported by CNBC and Fortune on March 12, Adobe's board appointed a special committee led by lead independent director Frank Calderoni to run the process, considering both internal and external candidates. The company posted Q1 FY2026 revenue of $6.4 billion and noted that annualized revenue from AI-first products more than tripled year-over-year—giving the incoming CEO a complicated mandate: accelerate AI adoption while defending subscription revenue against AI-native competitors. Executive compensation, employment agreements, and governance counsel will be in active demand through this transition.

The DOJ-to-BigLaw pipeline remained open this week. Data from Firm Prospects shows that federal agencies contributed 270 partner hires to the AmLaw 200 in 2025—9% of all lateral moves—led by the U.S. Attorney's Office (67 hires) and DOJ (50 hires). This week's moves—Kirkland adding a former acting assistant AG, BakerHostetler adding a former assistant U.S. attorney, and Nelson Mullins adding a former DOJ prosecutor—are consistent with that trend and reflect firms building for anticipated enforcement activity across criminal, FDA, and regulatory matters.

Disclaimer: BigLaw Street analyzes and draws on publicly available information from leading business and legal publications, firm announcements, press releases, and public regulatory and corporate filings.

That's the rundown. See you next week where law meets the markets.

–The BigLaw Markets Team