By Anirban Sen

(Reuters) – Law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison is hiring a top dealmaker Jim Langston from rival firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton as a partner in its mergers and acquisition (M&A) practice.

Langston, who has worked on several large public and private company transactions, activism defense, and corporate governance matters during his career, will continue to be based in New York and will join the law firm’s corporate department led by star dealmaker Scott Barshay.

“Jim is among the best M&A lawyers in the country and is an excellent addition to our team,” Barshay said.

Langston’s move is the latest in a series of high-profile hires at the world’s biggest law firms over the past decade, as most corporate law firms have moved away from the traditional “lockstep” pay system that ties compensation to seniority.

Most leading firms now link pay closely to performance and are rewarding star deal lawyers with multi-million dollar pay packages.

In 2016, Paul Weiss lured away Barshay from another white-shoe firm, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, which at the time employed a traditional lockstep system.

In 2021, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer poached top dealmaker Damien Zoubek from Cravath to help run its M&A practice in the U.S. During the past decade, Kirkland & Ellis has hired several leading deals lawyers, including Eric Schiele, Edward Lee and Jonathan Davis, from rival firms.

Langston, who earned his law degree from the University of North Carolina, worked at Cleary for more than a decade and helped lead its M&A practice.

During his time at Cleary, Langston advised on several high-profile public-company transactions, including Medtronic’s $49.9 billion acquisition of Covidien, Allergan’s proposed $160 billion merger with Pfizer that was later abandoned, and General Mills’ $8 billion takeover of Blue Buffalo Pet Products.

“Paul Weiss has the most sophisticated M&A practice in the market,” Langston said. “I look forward to working with this extraordinarily smart, collegial and dedicated team.”

Paul Weiss’ M&A practice has advised on several large deals over the past year, including Chevron’s proposed $53 billion acquisition of Hess Corp, Diamondback’s $26 billion takeover of Endeavor Energy, and Carrier’s $13 billion deal for Viessmann Climate Solutions.

Global M&A witnessed a rebound during the first quarter after a downbeat 2023, amid growing hopes of a soft landing for the economy. M&A volumes jumped 30% to about $755.1 billion in the first quarter of 2024, compared to the same period last year, according to data from Dealogic.

(Additional reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Stephen Coates)

---