Paul Weiss has once again raided Kirkland & Ellis in London for talent, this time adding financial regulatory partner Revathi Raghavan. 

Raghavan is the fifth partner to defect from Kirkland’s investment funds team this year to join Paul Weiss, as it continues to rapidly build a top-tier practice in London around private equity. 

Raghavan advises on the regulatory aspects of fund formation, as well as on M&A in the financial services sector and on regulatory change projects. 

Paul Weiss chairman Brad Karp highlighted her experience working with leading investment managers on the regulatory matters involved in launching major funds and executing transactions, adding she was “a wonderful addition to our growing bench of regulatory and investment funds specialists in Europe”. 

At Kirkland, Raghavan advised Apex Group on a number of acquisitions and earlier this year she advised Windjammer Capital on the close of Windjammer Capital Fund VI at $1.3bn. Paul Weiss said she has also worked with the likes of Blackstone, Thoma Bravo and TowerBrook Capital Partners, among other clients. 

A Kirkland spokesperson said of Raghavan’s departure: “We wish Revathi well in her next role.”

Raghavan’s arrival at Paul Weiss follows partner Prem Mohan joining last week as head of European financial services regulation after 10 years at Kirkland. 

Earlier in the year the firm also hired partners James King, Jeremy Leggate and David Pritchett from Kirkland’s London investment funds team, with Leggate joining Paul Weiss as co-head of European investment funds. 

Before summer 2023 the highly profitable Wall Street firm had long been characterised as a sleeping giant in the City due to its lack of an English law practice and limited presence; the firm had been left with three partners in London at the start of August last year following former office head Alvaro Membrillera’s exit for Kirkland.

That all changed a few weeks later when news emerged of its hire of Neel Sachdev and Roger Johnson – credited with being the driving force behind Kirkland’s rise to the top of London’s legal market – alongside three more Kirkland partners.

Since then the office has continued to rapidly add partners from UK and US rivals under the direction of Johnson and Sachdev, its other co-head. While Kirkland has been the source of most of its hires, Paul Weiss has also targeted UK firms Linklaters, Clifford Chance and Macfarlanes for talent as well as US rivals including Ropes & Gray, Simpson Thacher and Akin. It now has more than 30 partners in London, according to its website, 16 of whom including Raghavan hail from Kirkland. 

The impact of the firm’s raids have rippled through the market, with Kirkland, for example, having snapped up debt finance partners Vanessa Xu and Marwa Elborai earlier this year from Allen & Overy. 

Paul Weiss’s ambitions in London have also been underscored by the market-topping £180k it will dish out to the newly-qualified lawyers who complete its new UK training contract. The first cohort will begin their training contracts at the firm in 2026.