Willkie lands Kirkland partner to strengthen London private equity bench

Willkie has hired private equity partner Hamesh Khatkar from Kirkland & Ellis in London.

Khatkar represents private equity sponsors and sovereign wealth funds on cross-border M&A and corporate transactions spanning sectors including technology, real estate and digital infrastructure. He began his career at Linklaters, later moving to Simpson Thacher, before joining Kirkland in 2021.

Willkie’s PE focus

For Willkie, the hire strengthens an already strong London private equity practice. London PE co-chair Gavin Gordon said: "We’ve seen increased market demand for complex capital transactions and Hamesh’s technical proficiency and client-focused approach will be a great asset to our clients’ needs."

Willkie’s private equity group is one of the firm’s core global businesses. The firm says it has added partners in New York, San Francisco, Dallas and Munich in recent months as it targets international growth.

Last month, it named private equity head Jeffrey Poss as its new joint chairman, replacing Thomas Cerabino who has led the firm since 2010.

Khatkar said he was drawn to Willkie’s "market-leading private equity-focused platform with exceptional depth across industries and geographies."

An uptick in exits from Kirkland

Khatkar's departure extends a run of partner exits from Kirkland in recent months. Energy and infrastructure partner Serra Tar left for White & Case in September, while antitrust partner Sally Evans joined Paul Hastings.

The Chicago-headquartered giant has also lost tax partner Sam Trowbridge to Baker McKenzie, restructuring partner Kon Asimacopoulos to Sullivan & Cromwell, and leveraged finance partner Tom Roberts to Goodwin.

The latest exit comes just days after it emerged that, in a break from at least two decades of tradition, the firm has decided not to publicly announce this year’s partner promotions round - a decision reports suggest may relate to higher-than-liked turnover among recently promoted partners.