Ropes & Gray taps Kirkland partner

Ropes & Gray has hired its second Kirkland & Ellis secondaries partner in the space of a year.

Alexandra Chauvin has been appointed as counsel in Ropes & Gray’s London-based asset management team, according to a statement. She will focus on complex secondaries transactions such as recapitalisations, stapled deals, portfolio sales and synthetic secondaries.

Chauvin was at Kirkland & Ellis for nearly six and a half years, becoming partner in October 2020, according to her LinkedIn profile.

“Strengthening our secondaries offering in Europe is a key component in our endeavour to build an elite funds practice in EMEA and further strengthen our fully integrated transatlantic offering,” said Ropes & Gray’s EMEA head of funds Tom Alabaster, in the statement.

Chauvin ranked 13th in Secondaries Investor‘s 2020 Next Gen Leaders, which lists the most promising people in secondaries under the age of 36. She has represented groups such as Landmark Partners and HarbourVest Partners and worked on deals including the $1.4 billion single-asset restructuring on Warburg Pincus portfolio company Allied Universal.

Her appointment follows that of former Kirkland partner Chris Townsend, who joined Ropes & Gray last March, Secondaries Investor reported.

The EMEA asset management team at Ropes & Gray numbers around 30, with more than 300 worldwide, according to the statement.

Ropes & Gray advised on a total of 225 transactions worth more than $72 billion across fund recapitalisations, preferred equity, spin-outs and portfolio sales, according to Secondaries Investor‘s 2020 legal survey.