Gloomier long-term outlook for private equity should bring buy-out recruitment back down to earth
Early last year this column dubbed the latest round of high-profile, highly-expensive private equity recruitment as the high-water mark for the status of the common-or-garden buy-out lawyer. Like the house-price bubble, this trend had been building for a long time; David Cheyne first spoke publicly of the need for Linklaters to recruit private equity talent way back in 2001. By early 2006, the general desire to secure the services of a decent City buy-out partner had become near-obsessional at too many firms to mention. That the flow of transferring senior lawyers slowed over the past 12 months was thanks to the very limited supply of partners ready to swap sides rather than any lack of demand from firms ready to offer big money.
