Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft has recruited the global head of private equity at Latham & Watkins.
Ronald Hopkinson has represented major private equity clients including the Carlyle Group and Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe on a number of high-profile deals. He was lead counsel to Carlyle and Welsh Carson on their $7bn (£3.6bn) acquisition of phone directory company QwestDex in 2002 - then one of the largest private equity deals ever. He again represented those two funds, along with Blackstone Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, in their $12bn (£6.2bn) acquisition of media company VNU in 2006.
Commenting on his move, Hopkinson said it had been hard to leave but that he had been presented with an exciting opportunity. “Cadwalader is absolutely committed to building a first-tier private equity practice,” he said.
Cadwalader has invested heavily in new practices in recent months, bringing aboard senior laterals in bankruptcy, antitrust and intellectual property.
The move comes as the firm faces a severe downturn in its core capital markets practice. Slumping credit markets recently forced the firm to lay off 35 US associates, while the firm’s London office was forced to make several redundancies in its London support staff.
This article was first printed in Legal Week’s sister publication The New York Law Journal.
