Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has added a partner in New York firm Goodwin Procter to lead its global funds practice. 

Tim Clark has joined the firm’s global transactions group, marking the latest of a series of US private capital partner hires by the UK Magic Circle firm in its leveraged finance, capital solutions and bank regulatory teams.

“It is a strategic imperative to continue building a world class private capital practice in the US,” said Pamela Marcogliese, head of US transactions at Freshfields. “Tim’s experience in fund formation and secondaries transactions strengthens the breadth and depth of our practice, underscoring our commitment to addressing our clients’ business needs.”

Clark has joined the firm after a little more than four years at Goodwin, before which he was co-head of private equity fund formation at Sidley Austin. His practice focuses on private capital, specifically fund formation and secondaries transactions and the regulatory aspects of both. He represents private equity and private capital clients and has experience with forming traditional buyout funds and also funds in the credit, real estate, infrastructure and agriculture spaces. He regularly represents private fund managers in the formation of closed-end funds. 

Charles Hayes, Freshfields’ global co-head of private capital, said Clark’s portfolio of work across industries and regions including Europe, Asia and Latin America as well as the US made him an asset to the firm. 

“Bringing him into Freshfields is our latest move to strengthen our client offering across key areas of private capital – private equity M&A, capital solutions and private funds – further cementing our standing as a preeminent law firm in the global private equity community,” he added. 

Freshfields has been building its private capital offering in New York recently with hires from US rivals, including the addition of capital solutions partners HT Flanagan and Damian Ridealgh in New York from Weil Gotshal & Manges in June, the same month that financial regulatory lawyer David Sewell joined the office from Perkins Coie. 

The move reunited Flanagan and Ridealgh with Allison Liff, who joined in New York from Weil late last year to lead its US leveraged finance team. 

Clark commented: “Freshfields has an impressive track record recently of successfully challenging incumbent players in the US marketplace and I am very excited to join my experience with its private capital practice.”

A spokesperson for Goodwin Procter commented: “We wish Tim the very best.” 

The Boston-based firm has been bolstering its own secondaries practice of late, adding Jacqueline Eaves in London in March from Kirkland & Ellis and hiring six secondaries partners in New York over the course of last year, including Robert Emerson, who also joined from Kirkland.

Earlier this week, Latham & Watkins has boosted its highly rated London funds team with the appointment of two partners from US rival Sidley Austin.