O’Melveny & Myers has boosted its London bench with the hire of a pair of senior private equity partners from Anglo-Australian firm Ashurst. 

David Carter, who co-chaired Ashurst’s firmwide private equity practice, has joined O’Melveny alongside Braeden Donnelly, who headed the firm’s UK/European PE practice. The duo bring extensive mid-market PE and M&A experience and advise sponsors and PE firms across industries including technology, healthcare, financial services and corporate insurance. 

“We’re delighted to welcome two such standout partners to our London office,” said O’Melveny chair Bradley Butwin. “David and Braeden will be an immediate asset to our clients, especially US- and Asia-rooted private equity clients expanding their investment focus into the UK and Europe.” 

Carter has spent the past 24 years at Ashurst, where he worked with clients including Agilitas, EmergeVest and Oakley Capital. He advises mid-market sponsors on new investments, add-on acquisitions, portfolio company counselling and exit transactions, and also acts for management teams and corporate clients in M&A and corporate restructurings and reorganisations. 

Meantime Donnelly made partner at Ashurst in 2019, having joined the firm five years before from Australian firm MinterEllison. He has advised on UK and multi-jurisdictional PE transactions including M&A, disposals and buyouts for the likes of Agilitas, CapVest and Liberty Hall Capital Partners. 

The duo mark a rare addition to 800-lawyer O’Melveny’s London bench, which, including Carter and Donnelly, has seven partners. Last April the office welcomed finance and restructuring lawyer Greg Campbell from Gibson Dunn, the firm’s first London partner lateral since 2015. 

O’Melveny pointed out that with the arrival of Carter and Donnelly, 21 lateral partners have joined the firm since 2023, including 12 corporate partners based in its London, New York, Los Angeles and Century City offices. 

Gibson Dunn bolstered its London private equity bench earlier this month, adding partner Will Summers, who brought a solid track record advising large PE sponsors, and a counsel from White & Case.