KWM appoints administrators

The European arm of King & Wood Mallesons called in administrators Tuesday after it missed its original deadline of 9 January.

The firm has seen a wave of high-profile private equity lawyers leaving the firm, including Jonathan Pittal, Warren Allan and Gabriel Boghossian, who joined law firm Stephenson Harwood to boost its private equity transactions including buyouts, fund formation, and buy-side, sell-side and GP-led secondaries deals, as Secondaries Investor reported.

Other private equity departures include sector pioneer Jonathan Blake who has  joined O’Melveny & Myers; top-billing Paris heads of fund practice, Nathalie Duguay, who has reportedly joined Wilkie Farr & Gallagher as an asset management partner, and Duguay’s co-head of funds in Paris, Arnaud Davis, who left to join international US-based firm Reed Smith.

In early January, sister publication pfm reported that Simon Witney, a former private equity partner and consultant at KWM, was headed to Debevoise & Plimpton, an international US-based firm, to take up a similar role.