Orrick's Cadwalader raid grows to 42 with latest London hires

Orrick has hired two more structured finance lawyers from Cadwalader in London, taking its total tally from the firm to 42 since launching its headline-grabbing raid last year.

Top-ranked securitisation partner Suzanne Bell is joining alongside special counsel William Bibby, who will step up to partner. Bell spent more than 13 years at Cadwalader, while Bibby joined the firm early last year from Linklaters.

The latest hires build on Orrick’s aggressive structured finance-focused push on both sides of the Atlantic, which began in September with the addition of a transatlantic CLO and asset-backed lending team.

That single move saw Orrick hire 37 lawyers -  including 10 partners - across London and the US, and open a new office in Charlotte, a key financial hub. At the time, Orrick chair Mitch Zuklie called the hires "a game-changer" for the firm.

CLO push paying off

The expanded team has quickly translated into deal flow. Orrick was recently ranked the second most active arranger counsel for CLO deals in the first quarter globally, as well as across Europe and the US. Its London team advised on four European private credit CLOs in the first quarter.

Leah Sanzari, Orrick’s global structured finance group leader, said the integration of the earlier hires had “exceeded our expectations by every measure”, adding that the firm is continuing to build out the team to support clients "pioneer the innovative financial products of the future."

The scale of Orrick’s hiring spree underlines how aggressively certain firms are investing in the buoyant CLO market, which is being fuelled by the growth of private credit. Demand is rising in particular for so-called “middle market” CLOs backed by loans from private credit funds.

For Cadwalader, the latest departures come as it prepares to combine with Hogan Lovells, with partners approving the deal last week ahead of a 1 July launch.