Paul Hastings has hired a former co-leader of Sidley Austin’s international private equity practice to open an office in Boston.  

Alexander Temel has joined Paul Hastings as global co-chair of its private equity practice alongside a team of lawyers, though the firm did not specify how many.  

Temel and his team advise on transactions ranging from leveraged buyouts and recapitalisations to structured preferred and growth equity investments. They represent clients including Goldman Sachs, Great Hill Partners, Sixth Street and Thayer Street Partners.  

Private equity partner William Schwab is among those joining Temel for the move according to sources familiar with the matter. The pair have worked together for a number of years and moved to Sidley in 2017 from Latham & Watkins, Temel having been a co-founding partner of Latham’s Boston office in 2011. 

“Alex is a leader in private equity buyouts and his addition continues to strengthen our global private equity practice,” said Paul Hastings chair Frank Lopez. “We represent a range of the world’s leading asset managers across asset classes including private equity, growth, credit, infrastructure, special situations and real estate, and the addition of this premier private equity team will help us continue to gain market share with our clients and across the market.”

The arrival of Temel and his team continues a recruitment drive at Paul Hastings in private equity and practices that support it such as finance, tax and antitrust. Last autumn the firm hired three private equity partners in Palo Alto from Goodwin Procter, including Scott Joachim, who joined as global co-chair of the practice. Then in March Josh Ratner joined in New York as global vice chair of the PE practice, again from Goodwin Procter.  

At Paul Hastings, Temel will also work alongside Chicago-based global private equity co-chair Brian Richards to grow market share. The practice houses more than 100 lawyers globally and works with clients including Accel-KKR, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Oakley Capital Investments.  

“We see significant opportunity for growth on the platform that Paul Hastings has built, fuelled by an ambitious and collaborative culture,” Temel said. “We’re excited to help broaden the firm’s reach and create opportunities for serving our clients and gaining market share.”

Paul Hastings also opened an office in Dallas in February after hiring a team of eight finance partners across Texas from Vinson & Elkins. The Boston office will be its thirteenth in the US.

The firm’s growth strategy appears to be paying off, with Bloomberg reporting the firm grew revenue by around 9% last year to more than $1.8bn. Meantime, the value of a single share for Paul Hastings’ equity partners has risen nearly 50% over the past three years.