McDermott Will & Emery has hired healthcare partner Jason Zemmel from CMS to bolster its private equity coverage in London.

Zemmel departs CMS after nearly three decades, where he advised a wide range of clients, including private equity firms, management teams, corporates, investors and advisors on PE, M&A, corporate finance and other commercial transactions. He was previously co-head of CMS’s private equity practice, since January sharing his global leadership responsibilities with Hamburg-based partner Jacob Siebert.

Under his oversight, the private equity team at CMS advised on more than 15 deals in the second quarter of 2024, building on rising activity levels across the first half of the year, reflecting improved market sentiment in the UK and European private equity sector. This comes as reduced interest rates and a narrowing in valuation gaps fuelled increased activity.

In July, Zemmel said deals in the second quarter of the year had improved across several sectors, with technology, healthcare and business services in particular continuing to perform well. That increase in activity, and Zemmel’s experience in one of McDermott’s flagship areas, is understood to have triggered McDermott’s interest in his investor-centred healthcare practice.

Harris Siskind, global head of the transactions group at McDermott, said:  “Jason’s appointment illustrates our ambition to strengthen further and supercharge our London and PE benches. There are many similarities between our clients and Jason’s, making him an exceptional fit for the firm and the transactions practice. He also has a fantastic reputation in the market, especially with clients.”

Zemmel said he was excited about the prospect of expanding McDermott’s practice, saying the firm was “an appealing option to my clients” given its recent expansion, highlighting its PE, healthcare, restructuring, real estate and finance coverage in the firm’s UK and European offices in particular.

Zemmel’s recruitment follows that of Sebastian Bonneau and Candice Nichol in September and October, respectively. Bonneau’s move from Eversheds also spans private equity, acquisitions and joint venture transactions, especially on data centres. Meantime, Nichol joined the firm in London as a tax partner following a three-year stint at KPMG.

The arrivals follow August’s hire of leveraged finance partner John Burge to work alongside Chris Kandel, boosting the firm’s expertise across mid-market deals to larger ones and deepening a bench already strengthened by the hires of Fried Frank duo Darren Rogers and Devina Rana.

“We continue to invest heavily in our London office as we have always said we would, with a focus on attracting top-quality talent,” said Aymen Mahmoud, the firm’s London office managing partner. “Jason has an outstanding practice that aligns perfectly with our global strategy as we continue building a market-leading private equity offering.”

CMS was approached for comment. CMS previously announced a 5.1% bounce in revenue growth for 2023 in August, with revenues approaching $2.11bn, while it also made up 54 partners in its 2024 partner appointments round.