Goodwin, a leading Global 50 law firm, announced today the expansion of its Private Equity and Private Investment Funds practices with the appointment of six new partners, 15 associates and five trainees in the London office, all of whom join from the London office of King & Wood Mallesons (“KWM”). The group comprises the bulk of the market-leading and former SJ Berwin investment funds team and includes Michael Halford, Ed Hall, Laura Charkin, Shawn D’Aguiar, Patrick Deasy, and Ajay Pathak. These specialists join Goodwin as partners.
“A fully built-out, integrated private investment funds offering is instrumental to the continued growth of Goodwin’s international private equity practice,” said David Evans, Chair of Goodwin’s European offices. “We are very fortunate to have attracted this remarkable team of fund experts for the benefit of Goodwin’s fund management and investment clients. We look forward to welcoming Michael, Ed, Laura, Shawn, Patrick, Ajay, and their colleagues to the Goodwin family.”
“With the addition of this talented group of lawyers, we reinforce Goodwin’s commitment to providing truly sector-wide private funds formation coverage to clients across multiple geographies,” said A.J. Weidhaas, Co-Chair of Goodwin’s Private Equity Practice. “This talented team joins our growing international private equity platform of more than 150 lawyers, and – coupled with a number of other recent appointments across Goodwin’s offices – significantly augments our leading private equity, real estate and investment fund formation capabilities.”
The group brings the following expertise to Goodwin:
- Michael Halford specializes in private equity and investment fund structuring and acts for managers and investors covering a wide range of funds, incentive schemes and coinvestment arrangements. He served as Head of Investment Funds at KWM.
- Ed Hall specializes in the formation of private equity funds, acting for both general partners and investors. He has a particular focus on mid-market and large private equity funds, infrastructure funds and carried interest/coinvestment arrangements.
- Laura Charkin is a fund taxation expert with deep experience in structuring private funds, executive incentivization arrangements, and investment management platforms.
- Shawn D’Aguiar specializes in private equity and investment fund structuring and formation. He covers a wide range of funds including emerging markets, Shariah-compliant funds, incentive schemes and co-investment arrangements.
- Patrick Deasy regularly acts for limited partners and has particular expertise in emerging markets, infrastructure, private equity real estate and renewable energy funds. He served as Co-Head of the Africa Group at KWM.
- Ajay Pathak advises hedge fund managers, private equity houses, financial institutions, broker-dealers, custodians, clearing and settlement agents, and trading platforms in the hedge funds, financial markets, private equity and infrastructure sectors. He also led KWM’s India Business Group.
Goodwin’s London presence has grown to more than 75 lawyers. On January 9, the firm moved to a new office building at 100 Cheapside, EC2, more than doubling its previous space at Tower 42.