Talent coup

New York-based law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft has announced the first appointment to its new private equity practice: R. Ronald Hopkinson, formerly the global head of Latham & Watkin’s private equity group.
“As part of Cadwalader’s diversification efforts, a key strategy has been to expand our corporate department, already a major player in public M&A and corporate governance, through the development of a market-leading private equity practice,” says Robert Link, the chairman and managing partner of Cadwalader.
This represents a major change for Hopkinson. He first joined Latham & Watkins in 1988 as an associate and was elected to the partnership in 1996. Despite his long history with the firm, Hopkinson couldn’t pass on the chance to a build a practice from the ground up. “[Cadwalader] already has a highly regarded public M&A practice, a leading restructuring group and plenty of regulatory expertise, which could provide invaluable synergies for launching a private equity practice of their own.”
Hopkinson noted that those synergies are particularly relevant given current conditions. “Plenty of buyout firms are pursuing public assets these days, and given today’s economic uncertainty, restructuring will be a key element in deal-making,” says Hopkinson. “Add the firm’s expertise in specific industries like healthcare and financial services and we can argue that we’ve got the ideal blend of skills for certain transactions” he says. His top priority is recruiting other A-list talent for the team and collaborating with the other practices on any opportunities to tap his expertise immediately.
Bringing that expertise in-house could prove invaluable for Cadwalader.
Hopkinson’s group at Latham & Watkins garnered top spots with mergermarket’s M&A league tables, earning the #2 spot based on number of US buyouts, #3 for number of global buyouts and ranked in the Top 10 globally and for pan-European by value and number of deals for 2007. Hopkinson was personally selected as a Dealmaker of the Year by The American Lawyer in 2003.
“Ron’s experience as counsel in high-profile transactions on behalf of some of the world’s largest private equity firms and private equity consortiums, as well as his work with leading corporations in major acquisitions, joint ventures, and corporate restructurings, will be instrumental in further enhancing [our] breadth of services,” said Louis J. Bevilacqua, chairman of Cadwalader’s corporate department. “By capitalizing on Ron’s strong relationships and outstanding reputation in the private equity community, and Cadwalader’s deep ties in the financial community, we anticipate building a top tier private equity practice,” said Link.