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A star Kirkland & Ellis lawyer has left to join rival Simpson Thacher & Bartlett after the debt restructuring practices he pioneered antagonised Kirkland’s large stable of asset management clients.
David Nemecek, who spent more than a decade at Kirkland, will join New York-based Simpson to bolster the corporate restructuring group at a firm best known for its large book of private equity clients and big-ticket mergers and acquisitions practice.
The move promises new business for Simpson but could also bring the ire of private capital groups that have objected to Nemecek’s work for Kirkland.
Simpson said it would create what it called a “client-centric” restructuring practice that included out-of-court refinancings alongside traditional Chapter 11 bankruptcy strategies. The firm said the Dallas-based Nemecek will co-lead a new practice group called the Capital Structure Solutions Practice.
Nemecek told the FT in an interview: “Simpson is an elite platform. It has one of the best private equity practices and one of the best public company practices. There will be massive synergies.”
Nemecek’s practice at Kirkland started to unravel last autumn. In November, a Kirkland client, Optimum Communications, sued big private equity groups such as Apollo, Ares and Oaktree which owned most of its $26bn in debt. The suit alleged a co-operation pact among them violated US antitrust law.
It marked the first time such a competition claim had been brought in a distressed debt situation. Nemecek was widely viewed as the architect of the aggressive tactic even though Kirkland did not bring the formal complaint.
Several asset managers complained to Kirkland management about the lawsuit. Some of these firms paid more than $100mn in fees annually to Kirkland for other legal work, including M&A.
Kirkland in January resigned as transaction counsel to Optimum and decided to avoid the most aggressive so-called “creditor-on-creditor violence” situations.
Nemecek’s practice focused on these restructurings, in which one group of claimants took proceeds away from similarly situated investors.
Hiring Nemecek is a coup for Simpson, giving it a boost in attracting business from companies looking to negotiate difficult balance sheet manoeuvres against hedge funds and private capital firms.
But the firm’s decision also raises potential conflicts and risks provoking the private capital groups that made Nemecek’s position at Kirkland untenable.
Simpson has long been top outside counsel to Blackstone and KKR for both their private equity and corporate lending businesses. The firm rejected the possibility that issues similar to those that arose at Kirkland would trip it up.
Alden Millard, Simpson’s chair, said: “We have advised a range of clients, sponsors and borrowers. This is not new for us. This is what we have successfully handled in the past and will do so in the future.”
Nemecek was adamant the intensity of distressed debt fights would not abate as asset managers continued to diversify across credit and equity — and law firms and banks were being caught on both sides.
“At a macro level, it’s not going to change in a material way. Distressed companies are looking for concessions [from their creditors],” he said. “They will be emotional and complicated. We will be well-situated wherever the market is.”