Kirkland & Ellis has seen its seventh partner departure in three days as high-yield partner Andy Hagan moves to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
Hagan is joining the magic circle firm from April, less than a year after fellow Kirkland partner Ward McKimm made the same move. The magic circle firm is understood to have tweaked its lockstep system in order to recruit McKimm.
Hagan worked closely with McKimm while at the US firm, advising a number of its key clients such as Bain Capital, CVC Capital Markets, KKR and Brakes Capital.
He joined Kirkland as an associate in 2013, after a six-year career at Sidley Austin, and became a non-equity partner at the firm a year later.
Last Friday, The Lawyer revealed that a six-partner team from Kirkland is leaving to set up a private equity team in Sidley Austin’s London office, made up of two equity and four non-equity partners.
However, the firm has also hired from a number of magic circle firms, including Michael Steele from Freshfields, and Matthew Elliott and Paula Riedel from Linklaters.