Sidley resumes London raid on Latham with senior partner move

Sidley Austin has returned to Latham & Watkins in London for a senior partner hire, resuming its long-running raid on the world’s second largest law firm.

Sidley has poached real estate finance specialist Jeremy Trinder, former global co-chair of Latham’s real estate practice, in a move first reported by Law.com.

Trinder previously spent part of his early career at Sidley as an associate and later became a partner at White & Case and Dechert before joining Latham in 2016.

A long-running raid

The hire marks the eleventh Latham to Sidley partner move in London over the past 18 months, according to data from recruitment consultancy Edwards Gibson, extending a lateral campaign that began in late 2024.

Sidley’s initial move centred on a high profile leveraged finance push, led by partners Jay Sadanandan and Sam Hamilton, both regarded as leading figures in the leveraged finance market. That move was followed by a further six partner hires from Latham during 2024 and two more in 2025.

It has been more than six months since Sidley last hired a partner from Latham in London, though Trinder’s arrival suggests Sidley still has an appetite for Latham talent.

Real estate heats up

Trinder’s hire broadens Sidley’s London build-out into private equity real estate capability, complementing its earlier investment in leveraged finance and capital and debt markets capability.

Real estate has become an increasingly competitive area among law firms in London, as record capital flows into European property investment. London saw 14 senior corporate real estate moves last year.

Rivals bulk up

Latham itself has continued to invest in real estate capability in London, including the hire of a real-estate focused finance trio from A&O Shearman earlier this month, continuing its own raid on A&O following an 11-lawyer structured finance team that it landed last year. Latham also hired private equity real estate partner Jeremy Kenley from Gibson Dunn in November.

Elsewhere, Cleary and Milbank both launched European real estate practices in London last October. Freshfields added two real estate partners from Ropes & Gray and Hogan Lovells has been building out its real estate bench too. And just last week, White & Case expanded its European platform with a three-partner real estate team from DLA Piper in Paris.

Sidley Austin declined to comment on Trinder's hire.