Skadden announced today that George Knighton has joined the firm’s corporate practice as an M&A partner in our London office.
George is part of a two-partner team joining Skadden in London, together with Simon Toms, who is expected to start in 2020. Prior to joining Skadden, Mr. Knighton and Mr. Toms both spent their careers at another highly regarded global law firm.
The partners have a combined 40 years of experience advising U.K. companies on a broad range of corporate transactions, from private equity to capital markets. According to Mergermarket, Mr. Knighton and Mr. Toms have advised on European M&A deals worth more than £100 billion over the past five years.
Skadden has one of the leading M&A practices in the world, with capability in Europe focused on complex, cross-border transactions. Skadden is ranked in the first tier for M&A in the IFLR1000 and was ranked first for announced European deals by value in the first half of 2019, according to Bloomberg. Our most recent partner hires into our European corporate practice include Jan Bauer (private equity — Frankfurt), Richard Youle and Katja Butler (private equity — London) and Robert Stirling (insurance — London).
‘‘We are deepening our corporate team with two highly regarded partners who will expand our footprint with U.K. companies,” said Scott Hopkins, Skadden London’s co-head of M&A. “In addition to their experience on a range of corporate transactions, they have also worked extensively in the fintech, media and telecommunications sectors, which fits well with our developing technology practice.”
Both partners are ranked in The Legal 500 for M&A: Upper Mid-Market and Premium Deals. George is also ranked as a leading lawyer in Chambers Global for Corporate/M&A, Chambers UK for M&A: High-End Capability and The Legal 500 for Private Equity. Simon is also ranked in The Legal 500 for Fintech, IT and Telecommunications, and Media and Entertainment.
Both are admitted as solicitors in England and Wales.
Separately, Azad Ali recently joined Skadden’s London office as of counsel. Azad leads the firm’s financial regulatory practice in London, covering a wide range of areas, including corporate/M&A, capital markets, banking, investment management and funds, financial market infrastructure (exchanges and clearing) and broker-dealer issues.