Sidley Austin Scores Wall Street Heavyweight in Latest BigLaw Drama

Tom Borman, LawFuel contributing editor

When your firm has spent decades as the Fort Knox of partner retention, watching top talent walk out the door must sting worse than a first-year associate’s billable shortfall. That’s the reality Cravath Swaine & Moore now faces as Dave Perkins—co-head of their private equity practice—packs his corner office for Sidley Austin after nearly two decades at the Wall Street powerhouse.

Perkins, whose client roster reads like a private equity who’s who (American Securities, BDT & MSD, Brookfield), has become the latest trophy in Sidley’s aggressive talent hunt.

Once upon a time, Cravath partners were more likely to retire than defect, but those days have well and truely gone. The ‘Cravath model’ was one to be admired and emulated by others. The firm, after all, sits atop the LawFuel ‘Most Prestigious Law Firm’ list.

It also consistently sits at the top end of the Vault rankings.

“Dave is a versatile lawyer with a strong client following,” said Yvette Ostolaza, Sidley’s management committee chair, in what might be the understatement of the legal calendar. Translation: we just poached a rainmaker who knows where all the PE bodies are buried.

The move comes as Sidley’s 650-lawyer M&A and PE practice continues bulking up with recent hires. They’ve recently snagged Jones Day’s George Hunter and the firm’s M&A group head David Grubman, plus talent from Milbank and other AmLaw heavyweights.

Cravath’s spokesperson offered the legal equivalent of “no comment” with their terse “We wish David well in his future endeavours.” Reading between the redlines: this one hurts.

Despite Cravath’s 2021 pivot from pure lockstep compensation and their 2023 introduction of a salaried partner tier—moves as dramatic as a Supreme Court reversal for the tradition-bound firm—the partner exodus continues.

Last year alone saw four partners flee to competitors including White & Case, Freshfields, Kirkland & Ellis, and Davis Polk.

For Sidley, landing Perkins is like finding a unicorn with a book of business. For Cravath, it’s another sign that in today’s BigLaw landscape, even the bluest blood can be tempted to change colors.