Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison’s strategic expansion in London continues with a recent acquisition of an esteemed legal expert from Linklaters, Nicole Kar. Kar, who graced the role of global head of antitrust and foreign investment for nearly two decades at Linklaters, is now on board Paul Weiss.
Alongside the departure of Kar from Linklaters, another blow was dealt to the firm with the loss of London leveraged finance partner Noel Hughes to Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. Hughes, who joined Linklaters just recently in spring 2022, previously led at Vinson & Elkins’ London outfit, heading City finance and M&A capital markets.
A seasoned professional, Kar has been instrumental in leading over 40 significant merger reviews before European and UK authorities. Kar’s repertoire includes advising the UK infrastructure provider Arquiva’s telecoms tower business on a £2 billion takeover by Cellnex in 2019, one of Europe’s largest mobile mast operators.
Kar’s move to Paul Weiss is the latest instance in a series of significant hiring by the firm this year. This pattern was kickstarted by the significant hiring of a transatlantic debt finance team led by star partner Neel Sachdev from Kirkland & Ellis, after the departure of London head and private equity heavyweight Alvaro Memberilla to Kirkland & Ellis in August.
Amid the ‘merry-go-round’ of partner moves, Linklaters has seen a mass exodus of top London partners to US rivals. One notable transition includes Simon Pritchard’s, an antitrust partner, move to Latham & Watkins, and Edward Aldred and corporate partner Nick Rumsby’s transition to Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in the last year.
Montresor’s founder Tom Balmer comments that the Magic Circle firms like Allen & Overy, have a well-strategized approach focusing on their growth plans over the US. He noted this particularly applies to firms dealing with big private capital clients, such as KKR and Apollos. The result of this focused approach may be squeezing out traditional City firms that have fewer deals to share amidst the post-pandemic private capital advising boom.