Sidley Austin has made its second raid on Lathams in London and the 12th since 2024 as it moves to further strengthen its private equity, leveraged finance, capital markets, and real estate capabilities in London.
The firm hired James Inness, who was the co-head of capital markets at Latham & Watkins’ London office, as part of its ongoing recruitment drive from the firm.
Inness trained at Hogan Lovells, spent six years as an associate at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, and joined Latham in 2013, where he advanced to partner and took on leadership roles in capital markets.
His practice focuses on high-yield debt and equity capital markets transactions, with notable deals including advising on Verisure’s €13.7 billion IPO on Nasdaq Stockholm, sponsors for Metlen’s £6 billion listing on the London Stock Exchange, TI Fluid Systems’ £1.3 billion London IPO, Darktrace’s £1.7 billion main market listing and its subsequent $5.3 billion takeover by Thoma Bravo, and the $29.4 billion Saudi Aramco IPO in 2019 (the largest in history). Other clients he has represented include Thomas Cook Group, Morgan Stanley, Danske Bank, JP Morgan, and Cobalt Holdings.
This move marks the second hire from Latham to Sidley’s London office in 2026 and the 12th overall since August 2024, when Sidley began its aggressive lateral hiring campaign.
The initial wave included a five-partner leveraged finance team led by Jayanthi Sadanandan (now Sidley’s global co-head of leveraged finance) and Sam Hamilton, along with Fergus O’Domhnaill, Ben Wright, and Joe Kimberling.
Subsequent additions from Latham have included debt capital markets partners Patrick Kwak and Scott Colwell, finance partner Tania Bedi, equity capital markets partner Vladimir Mikhailovsky, London corporate co-chair David Stewart, and real estate co-chair Jeremy Trinder (hired in January 2026).
The hires are part of Sidley’s strategy to expand its specialist work amid a competitive market with increased European property investments and anticipated IPO activity. Sources describe this as a “long-term play” to strengthen Sidley’s offerings to corporates in London and Europe, particularly by pairing Inness with former Latham colleague David Stewart. Sidley has declined to comment on the hire, and Latham has not publicly responded.
