New York-headquartered firm Debevoise & Plimpton has bolstered its private equity bench in London with a partner hire from Goodwin Procter. 

James Grimwood, whose transactions practice covers M&A, leveraged buyouts, venture transactions, joint ventures and corporate reorganisations, has joined the firm after nearly five years at Goodwin. Before that he practised for more than two decades at CMS, where he first made partner. 

Peter Furci, presiding partner at Debevoise, said the firm’s private equity M&A practice was built on delivering a full-service offering to clients globally. 

“That means teams across our global network collaborating and advising on every aspect of a transaction,” Furci said. “James’s arrival strengthens that approach. Given our global client base, we see meaningful opportunities in the London market and expect to continue to invest in our UK and European private equity transactional practice.”

Grimwood’s hire follows partner Shawn D’Aguiar joining Debevoise’s funds and investment management practice in London from Goodwin in April. 

Grimwood is ranked Band 2 by Chambers and Partners for private equity buyouts of up to £500m. His clients have included HIG Capital, Antin Infrastructure Partners, LDC and Aurelius and he has also advised Mayfair Equity Partners and its portfolio companies on a number of transactions. 

Debevoise shot up London Stock Exchange Group’s (LSEG’s) global M&A legal advisor rankings for the first nine months of this year to 16th place, up from 42nd for the same period in 2023, after working on 63 deals worth just over $102bn.  

That rise came amid an uptick in the value of global M&A to $2.3trn – up 16% on year-prior levels – while the value of private-equity backed M&A was up 40% to $547.9bn, the fourth-largest opening period for PE-backed M&A since records began in 1980. 

Paul Bird, head of Debevoise’s European corporate practice and a senior M&A partner, said Grimwood’s arrival “comes at a time of significant optimism, both for our own practice and the wider market”. 

He added: “With the current M&A landscape providing many opportunities for our financial sponsor clients, we are committed to offering them the quality and bandwidth they need to execute their most critical transactions. James has worked at the forefront of private equity M&A for decades, and we are confident our clients will benefit from his commercial insights and considerable market experience.”

A spokesperson for Goodwin said: “We thank [Grimwood] for his hard work at Goodwin and wish him all the best.”

Goodwin boosted its private equity M&A bench in April when it hired partners Ian Keefe and George Weavil, both Travers Smith lifers, in London.

The first nine months of 2024 ranks as the fourth largest opening period for PE-backed M&A since records began in 19