Sidley Expands Private Equity Practice With James Sherlock in London

London – Sidley is pleased to announce that James Sherlock has joined the Firm’s M&A and Private Equity Practice as a partner in London. He joins from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, where he was a member of their Private Equity Group.

Mr. Sherlock advises financial sponsors on a wide range of transactions, including private acquisitions and disposals, carve-outs, co-investments, consortium deals, joint ventures, group restructurings and other general corporate matters. He has particular experience guiding sponsors, their portfolio companies, and institutional co-investors through complex, cross-border deals throughout the full investment lifecycle, from initial acquisitions and bolt-ons through to exit, across sectors including financial services, technology, infrastructure, business services, and consumer.

“James has deep client relationships with private equity sponsors, including key infrastructure clients, and a strong track record of acting on their most complex and significant cross-border deals,” said Brian Fahrney, Chair of Sidley’s Executive Committee. “Sponsors are increasingly consolidating their legal work with firms that can support them, their portfolio companies, and their investors at every stage of the investment lifecycle, and James adds real depth to our London team.”

“James is well regarded by the legal community and his experience advising sophisticated sponsors on complex cross-border transactions is a natural complement to the strategic investments we have recently made in London across finance, restructuring, private equity, capital markets, and private funds,” said Tom Thesing, managing Partner of Sidley’s London office and a member of the firm’s Management and Executive Committees. “He shares our ambition to provide sponsor clients with a fully integrated private capital platform in London and to be their firm of choice for their most sophisticated transactional needs.”

Sidley has added more than 30 partners in London in addition to promoting 15 of its lawyers to its partnership in the last three years. These include Carl Hotton, Philip Hertz and Melissa Coakley, James Inness, Jeremy Trinder, Sean Carney, Ed Gander, David Stewart, Jayanthi Sadanandan, Sam Hamilton, James MacArthur, and Ramy Wahbeh. During this period it has continued its more than decade-long year-on-year revenue growth and advised clients on many of their most sophisticated matters across its transactions, disputes and regulatory practices.

The firm’s preeminent global M&A and Private Equity practice has more than 650 lawyers who are engaged in the full spectrum of public and private mergers and acquisitions, as well as private equity transactions across a variety of industries, including manufacturing, energy, life sciences, sports, entertainment, healthcare, real estate, consumer products, transportation and logistics, infrastructure, technology, media and telecoms, financial services and insurance, and metals and mining.

Sidley is an elite global law firm. With approximately 2,300 lawyers and 160 years of experience, we have established a reputation for deploying innovative legal strategies to achieve powerful results for our clients in complex transactional, restructuring, crisis management, investigation, regulatory, and litigation matters.

Our perspective and reach are truly global, supported by 21 offices strategically situated in key commercial, regulatory, and financial centers across the world. Our lawyers and business professionals, fluent in more than 75 languages, possess the cultural awareness and cross-border legal acumen needed to bring clarity to a dynamic business landscape.