Hogan Lovells’ UK M&A co-head Patrick Sarch has rejoined White & Case in London.  

Sarch has returned to the top 10 US firm as a partner and head of UK public M&A, having co-led its London corporate practice during his first stint at the firm. 

“Patrick’s ideas, market reputation, mentoring skills and energy will increase the strength of the London M&A platform that he himself helped to shape, and further drive forward our work with public companies,” said White & Case partner Alan Burke, regional section head EMEA M&A/corporate. “His addition in London reaffirms our reputation for handling complex, international M&A involving listed entities.” 

News of Sarch’s return to White & Case comes hard on the heels of Hogan Lovells’ hire of a five-strong disputes team in Paris from White & Case, led by Jean-Pierre Picca, a prominent former prosecutor and advisor to then French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Sarch brings nearly 30 years of experience advising clients on corporate finance, M&A transactions and restructurings, working on high-profile deals such as Softbank’s £1.6bn investment in online retail group The Hut Group at Hogan Lovells and, at White & Case, Advent’s £4bn acquisition of Cobham.  

He also advises companies and activist shareholders on shareholder activism situations relating to ESG, strategic and M&A-related campaigns and disputes. Before first joining White & Case in 2017 he spent 16 years as a partner at Clifford Chance.  

“We are delighted to welcome Patrick back to White & Case as we intensify our focus acting for major clients on their significant public M&A and public company work,” said White & Case partner John Reiss, head of the firm’s global M&A practice.  

“Over the past five years, we have cultivated a robust UK M&A practice, including public M&A and public company work, augmenting our partnership with key lateral partner hires and partner promotions. The addition of Patrick supports the reinforcement of our corporate practice, particularly in the realm of public takeovers and engagements for clients.” 

A Hogan Lovells spokesperson commented: “We thank Patrick for his contributions to the firm and wish him well on his return to White & Case.”

White & Case’s 110-lawyer London M&A team regularly advises corporate and financial institution clients on deal work in the infrastructure, telecoms and financial services sectors and is noted by Chambers for its cross-border capabilities. Clients of the team include Goldman Sachs, CVC Capital Partners, Barclays and Deutsche Bank.  

Sarch has joined White & Case amid hope for a rebound in M&A markets after a challenging 2023, when global dealmaking fell to a 10-year low of $2.9trn. The firm was among the top 10 legal advisors for M&A deals by value in 2023, coming in ninth place after working on 355 deals worth $229.4bn. It had ranked sixth in 2022. 

Last summer, Paul Weiss intensified the competition for top M&A talent in London when it hired Roger Johnson as co-chair of global M&A as part of a 12-partner transatlantic private equity raid on Kirkland & Ellis that also saw it gain an English law offering and open an office in Los Angeles. 

And earlier in the year Sidley Austin secured Shearman & Sterling’s EMEA and Asia M&A head, Phil Cheveley, in London, less than two years after he was unveiled by Shearman as a key building block in its ambitions to bulk up its its global M&A practice when it lured him away from Travers Smith.