- Europe
- Lateral moves
Max Oppenheimer's move to Paul Weiss follows a four-partner finance departure at Weil
Max Oppenheimer, a corporate partner in Weil Gotshal's London office, is set to join Paul Weiss, according to Law.com International Edition, the latest in a run of departures from the firm's City practice.
His exit lands just after Tom Richards, who runs Weil's London leveraged finance practice, entered advanced talks to join Simpson Thacher & Bartlett with a team of partners, per Legal Business. Secondaries partner Charles Cooper-Isow is also moving to Simpson Thacher. Weil has seen more than 30 exits worldwide since January, with London described by Legal Business as a story in its own right.
The London departures began at senior level. Co-managing partner David Avery-Gee and UK corporate partner Sarah Flaherty are heading to Sullivan & Cromwell, with another M&A partner in exit talks, Law.com International Edition reported in September.
Paul Weiss grew its London office from three partners in 2023 to more than 40
Oppenheimer joins an office built almost entirely by lateral hiring. Paul Weiss had three partners in London in summer 2023 and has since reached roughly 35 to 52, per Scottish Legal News. Bloomberg Law put the headcount above 250 lawyers and over 40 partners, housed in 87,000 sq ft at 20 Air Street with plans to expand around 25 percent.
Neel Sachdev, who left Kirkland to co-head the office in August 2023, added more than 140 lawyers in eight months, Bloomberg Law reported. The firm has kept hiring since, taking Paul Foote from Simpson Thacher as head of European infrastructure M&A in January 2026 and Francesca Storey-Harris from Kirkland in November 2025, according to Nonbillable. Oppenheimer's corporate practice sits inside that private equity and infrastructure build-out.
Private equity, leveraged finance and corporate M&A drive the Weil exits
The departures cluster in private equity, leveraged and debt finance, and corporate M&A, the most contested practices in London, per Legal Business. Oppenheimer works in PE and corporate; Richards leads leveraged finance. Those are exactly the areas US firms have spent most to capture: private equity partner hiring nearly doubled across 2025 trackers, Scottish Legal News reported, the single biggest driver of American expansion in the City.
That spending has moved pay. Heavy US investment has distorted compensation, with some London partners doubling or tripling their numbers on a move, per Scottish Legal News. Paul Weiss has the balance sheet for it: 2023 revenue of $2 billion, up 11 percent, with average partner compensation around $3.75 million, according to Bloomberg Law. The firm runs a black box compensation system that widens the pay spread to recruit rainmakers, Scottish Legal News noted.
Weil has lost more than 30 partners since January across London and New York
The outflow isn't confined to one office. In New York, private equity co-head Christopher Machera left for Paul Weiss with five others, including Timothy Burns, Noah Beck and Amanda Rotkel, per Above the Law. Corporate department chair Michael Aiello went to Cravath with M&A co-head Matthew Gilroy and four more, Bloomberg Law reported. London finance partners Chris McLaughlin, Alastair McVeigh and Jenny Choi moved to Sullivan & Cromwell, and a restructuring trio went to Akin, per Above the Law.
Weil is backfilling, hiring PE partners from Dechert and Kirkland and welcoming back a Freshfields private credit co-leader, the same report noted. The firm has also held preliminary talks on a possible merger, though it says it "is not engaged in merger discussions with any firm," per Bloomberg Law.
Paul Weiss has been called a new apex predator targeting London's top-tier firms, mostly Kirkland, for talent, per Global Legal Post. Oppenheimer adds one more Weil partner to Paul Weiss, which earlier took the six-partner New York private equity team around Christopher Machera, while the London finance teams left for other firms. Across a market that saw 546 partner hires in 2024, up from 480 two years earlier per Scottish Legal News, citing recruiter Edwards Gibson, the Weil exits concentrate in the practices where that hiring is heaviest.