Karen King

CAREER PATH:
King joined Silver Lake in 2004 after working for law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York, London and Palo Alto. She has a bachelor's degree from Duke University and a law degree from Harvard Law School.

SERENDIPITY:
Working for Silver Lake seems to have been in the cards for King all along. Her move to California ? the state where she was born ? as one of the first lawyers in Simpson Thacher's new Palo Alto office occurred within months of Silver Lake's inception in 1999. Through Simpson Thacher partner Richard Capelouto's contacts with Silver Lake's founding partners, King found herself working with Silver Lake and one of its early portfolio companies, Seagate Technology. And not long after King left Simpson Thacher following the birth of her first child, Silver Lake was looking for an in-house counsel. ?If I were ever going to give up staying home with my daughter and go back to work, being at a promising, innovative technology-focused private equity firm like Silver Lake was exactly the kind of job that appealed to me,? she says.

EADERSHIP:
King was the legal team when she first joined Silver Lake, but now counts three attorneys working for her, one in each of the firm's offices in Menlo Park, New York and London. From handling all the routine day-to-day compliance work herself initially, King now relishes the time she has to work on deals, such as when Silver Lake organized the consortium to buy SunGard Technologies for $11.3 billion in the largest technology buyout deal up to that point and when Silver Lake partnered with KKR to buy Phillips Semiconductor for $4.25 billion. The most challenging part is not having enough hours in a day: ?Even though I can't be with my children quite as much as I'd like to, I'm doing something that I love,? she says wistfully.

MOTHERHOOD:
Balancing a career and motherhood is ?very challenging,? admits King. ?Sometimes I err on one side or the other, but over the long run I try to keep the two balanced.? There are, however, times when her two worlds collide, albeit briefly: ?SunGard was actually signed when I was in the hospital giving birth to my son? It was fun, having my parents there to see my new baby and then at the same time having them read the headlines about one of the deals I had just been working on ? one of the biggest private equity deals in history at the time. It helped give them a sense of what I am involved in on a day-to-day basis.?

Olswang nabs Clifton in London
London technology, media and communications law specialist Olswang has hired Richard Clifton as partner in its London office, boosting the private equity team to seven partners. Clifton joins from Taylor Wessing, where he has been a partner since 2002. Clifton has had experience in venture capital funding, the US market and European real estate investment, which Olswang says complements its recently opened Berlin office and international alliance with US law firm Greenberg Taurig. Of particular note is Clifton's experience in advising banks, funds, property companies and individuals investing in the European real estate market through fund or corporate structures. Olswang also recently brought on Andrew Wylie as partner from Macfarlanes for its private equity team.

Dewey bulks up structured finance team
New York law firm Dewey Ballantine has hired four partners for its structured finance group in the course of a month, in anticipation of an increased use by private equity firms of ?asset-backed buyouts? in place of more traditional leveraged buyouts. All four new partners, H. Patrick de Carbuccia, Alexander Fraser, John Altorelli and Joseph Potash, have private equity experience and joined Dewey from the New York office of Reed Smith. De Carbuccia has represented Fortress Investment Group, while Fraser has represented a consortium of private investment funds controlled by KKR, Five Mile Capital Partners and Goldman Sachs. Altorelli has represented The Blackstone Group. James FitzPatrick Jr, chair of the firm's corporate department, said in a statement, ?As the lines between private equity, hedge funds and structured finance become increasingly intertwined, practitioners with experience like this are invaluable.?

Frieh leaves Linklaters to start own firm
Michel Frieh, a star private equity and M&A lawyer in Paris, has left London based law firm Linklaters to set up his own practice. Frieh, 50, reportedly wants to work on small capital deals, unlike the larger transactions he is accustomed to. In 2005, he was cited the rainmaker with the largest volume in advising on European M&A deals by mergermarket, an M&A research firm. In that year, he advised on 17 deals worth €3.2 billion ($3.8 billion). Before joining Linklaters in 2004, Frieh worked at Willkie, Farr & Gallagher for 14 years, the last ten as partner. Linklaters' private equity practice will continue to be led by Fabrice de la Monrandiere and will comprise partner Vincent Ponsonnaille and new partner David Swinburne.

Latham & Watkins promotes Benedetti
Los Angeles-based law firm Latham & Watkins has promoted Alexander Benedetti to partner in Paris. Benedetti's practice focuses on private equity and M&A, with emphasis on leveraged buyouts. Before joining Latham & Watkins, Benedetti had worked as Ashurst for eight years. He was part of the team of seven private equity lawyers who left Ashurst for Latham & Watkins in 2004. Latham & Watkins also promoted Stacey Rosenberg to partner in its Los Angeles office. Rosenberg has a broad finance practice and represents equity sponsors in connection with financing for leveraged acquisitions and companies in connection with leveraged recapitalizations, including Leonard Green & Partners and Fremont Partners.