Latham & Watkins has hired a ‘rising star’ debt capital markets lawyer in London from UK magic circle rival Linklaters.

Linklaters counsel Manoj Tulsiani is joining Latham’s 450-lawyer global capital markets practice as a partner at a time when the US giant reports that it advised on 400 debt and equity transactions in the first half of 2020, raising more than $300bn for companies.

Tulsiani – identified as a rising star in Linklaters’ tier one London debt capital markets practice by directory The Legal 500 – makes the move after nearly 15 years at Linklaters, which included stints in Hong Kong and Dubai.

He has advised issuers and underwriters on a variety of domestic and international debt capital markets transactions and was part of the Linklaters team that advised on Ukraine’s first ever green bond issuance in December 2019.

Brett Cassidy, co-chair of Latham’s London corporate department, said: “We have successfully established top tier capabilities in a number of areas in London that highly complement Manoj’s practice, including strategic M&A, equity capital markets, structured finance, securitization, restructuring, infrastructure and financial regulatory.”

Ian Schuman, global chair of Latham’s capital markets practice, added: “London is an important strategic market in its own right, and it also serves as a key gateway for clients across a variety of other territories.”

In August, Schuman said the firm’s capital markets practice was “busier than ever”, adding that “the debt and equity capital markets remain open and very active despite market volatility due to the pandemic”.

In the same month, Latham reported that it had advised on 12 equity capital markets raisings on the London Stock Exchange since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic involving companies including J D Wetherspoon, Aston Martin and Taylor Wimpey.

Other practice areas targeted by Latham for investment in London include restructuring – following the hire of Jessica Walker from Mayer Brown as a partner in June – and corporate, the firm having hired up and coming M&A partner Sam Newhouse from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in February.