Sidley Austin has expanded its London private equity offering with the hire of a partner from Proskauer Rose.
Tony Downes, who had been a corporate partner in Proskauer Rose’s private equity group since 2020, is set to join Sidley Austin, according to a person at Sidley.
Downes joined Proskauer from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, where he was an associate. Prior to his move into private practice, he was a senior corporate counsel at gambling giant Gala Coral.
Sidley’s corporate and private equity ranks in London have fluctuated in recent years, with the firm losing and gaining a series of lawyers from other U.S.-led firms in the city.
The firm added a five-lawyer private equity team from Vinson & Elkins in August 2021, a year after it lost five of its London-based private equity lawyers, including its global private equity co-leader Erik Dahl and co-head of European corporate and private equity Christian Iwasko, to Goodwin Procter.
At the end of 2021, Sidley corporate duo Wim de Vlieger and Till LeFranc quit for Gibson Dunn & Crutcher.
Earlier in June, Proskauer brought on long-time Clifford Chance restructuring partner Adrian Cohen in its own London boost.
The private equity funds industry is currently under strain in the London legal sector, with many in the group recently pointing to Kirkland & Ellis’ prolific hiring practices as causing headaches for other firms’ succession plans.
Proskauer did not respond to requests for comment. Sidley did not respond with a comment at the time of publication.
