Kirkland & Ellis is expected to bring back Paul Basta, the lawyer who left the firm nearly a decade ago to co-lead the restructuring practice at rival Paul Weiss, people familiar with the matter said.
Basta was expected to depart Paul Weiss by the end of the year after the firm hired his former Kirkland colleague Jamie Sprayregen as co-head of its capital solutions and restructuring practice in June.
Basta joined Kirkland in 2006 and advised on major bankruptcy proceedings, including Caesars Entertainment and Charter Communications. Basta moved to Paul Weiss in 2017, where he continued to advise struggling companies, including Revlon, through chapter 11. Basta also has advised asset managers, including Bain Capital, Blackstone and TPG, on restructuring matters.
Kirkland declined to comment. Paul Weiss didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kirkland has long had a market-leading practice in advising financially troubled companies, but rival firms have increasingly competed for its lawyers, including firm alumni who have built restructuring practices elsewhere. Across the legal industry, top rainmakers have been moving between partnerships at a breakneck pace as clients increasingly follow individual partners rather than firms as a whole.
Legal work also has become more concentrated among a smaller group of elite firms that can afford to pay out yearly compensation upward of $20 million for top lawyers who can bring both major corporate and creditor-side clients.
David Nemecek, a prominent Kirkland partner who focused on debt financing issues, left earlier this year to join Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Latham & Watkins also has stocked up its restructuring talent pool with Kirkland alumni, including Ray Schrock and Ryan Dahl. Willkie Farr & Gallagher hired former Kirkland partner Ryan Bennett to lead its restructuring practice last year.
Kirkland more recently recruited Josh Feltman, a longtime lawyer at Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz known for his work advising asset managers, as well as two bankruptcy lawyers in Dallas who specialize in mass-tort litigation.
These moves come as corporate restructuring has evolved to focus on reshuffling balance sheets outside of traditional chapter 11 cases while integrating other legal disciplines, including debt finance, capital markets and complex litigation.
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