With the hire of Adam Eastell, the leading global law firm Baker McKenzie continues the rapid growth of its London transactional practice. Adam Eastell is a prominent corporate and M&A lawyer, who joins the corporate team in London from Eigen Technologies, and prior to that was a Partner at Slaughter & May. He brings significant UK plc, TMT and innovation expertise and therefore further strengthens Baker McKenzie´s UK plc and M&A capabilities.

Leading global law firm Baker McKenzie continues the rapid growth of its London transactional practice with the hire of prominent corporate and M&A lawyer Adam Eastell. Adam, who joins as a Partner, brings a wealth of public and private M&A experience which will enhance Baker McKenzie’s M&A bench in London and contribute to the Firm’s ongoing transactional growth strategy. This latest hire builds on the recent appointment of corporate finance partner Nick Bryans from Ashurst in November 2019. Adam's joining represents a key strategic hire for the Firm.

Adam was formerly a corporate partner at Slaughter and May where he acted for a number of FTSE 100 companies on a range of transactions, including public and private M&A, joint ventures, equity capital markets and restructurings. During his time at Slaughter and May, Adam developed a strong UK plc, M&A and board advisory focus which he will continue at Baker McKenzie. He brings with him a wealth of top tier transactional experience and excellent corporate client relationships.

Adam joins Baker McKenzie from Eigen Technologies, the artificial intelligence (AI) and data science company, where he has spent the last 2 years. In his role as Chief Legal and Strategy Officer, Adam was, among other things, responsible for building out Eigen’s legal sector offering and client base, which now includes a number of leading global law firms. Adam also led Eigen’s Series A and B funding rounds, raising approximately $60m in total. During his time at Eigen, Adam has developed unique insights into legal innovation, the TMT sector and driving successful revenue growth.

Commenting, Helen Bradley, head of Baker McKenzie’s London Corporate Finance practice, said: "Adam's hire in these challenging and uncertain times shows the strength of our commitment to supporting UK PLCs and growing our transactional practices. Adam's unique background, with deep experience advising public companies in private practice, a strong TMT focus and expertise in the legal tech sector, not only adds further depth to our team, but also plays to our strengths in the TMT sector and further augments our market reputation for cutting edge legal innovation. We are therefore delighted to welcome Adam as a key element of our long-term strategy to be one of the go-to corporate firms for the FTSE100 and FTSE250."

Steve Holmes, head of the London Technology Team at Baker McKenzie added: “Adam’s arrival to Baker McKenzie confirms our continued push to be a leading international TMT-focused firm and is further testament of how our global transactional strategy is working for us. His joining follows the recent high profile hiring in our Northern Californian offices of Partners Lisa Fontenot, Derek Liu, Lawrence Lee and Tom Asmar this year, while Leif King joined in August 2019. This expansion has brought the total number of M&A lawyers there to 24, one of the largest practices in the San Francisco Bay Area. To this, Adam brings a sought-after level of experience that complements the existing team and will further help us support our TMT industry clients moving forward, while strengthening the Firm's continued efforts to be at the cutting edge of legal innovation. We’re delighted to be welcoming him to the Firm.”

On his appointment, Adam said, “I am delighted to be part of the continued growth of Baker McKenzie’s Corporate team. The growth trajectory of the Firm’s transactional practices is both impressive and exciting. Now more than ever, clients require exceptional transactional advice, genuinely global coverage and real innovative thinking. Baker McKenzie is uniquely placed to provide all of these. I am looking forward to working with my new colleagues across the Firm to deliver a first-class legal service to clients facing unprecedented challenges".

Adam studied at Oriel College, Oxford and joined Slaughter and May as a trainee in 2002 and made partner in 2011.  Adam joined Eigen Technologies in November 2017.

Adam is the Firm's latest high profile hire, as we continue to expand our transactional capabilities with the best and most talented lawyers. His appointment brings the number of transactional Partner hires in London in the last twelve months to eleven, with the most recent hire being Private Equity partner, Justin Hutchinson from Kirkland & Ellis in January 2020.

Additional key transactional hires were made across Baker McKenzie's offices, including most recently leading M&A lawyers Lisa Fontenot and Derek Liu as partners in Baker McKenzie's Northern California offices.

Baker McKenzie is a transactional powerhouse with over 2,500 deal lawyers and expertise in over 46 countries. We do more cross-border transactions than any other law firm in the world, and are ranked #1 in cross-border deals over the past decade. We are global and local, combining money market sophistication with local excellence. The Firm assists clients through all stages of a transaction, from preparing the business for sale or performing due diligence, to negotiating the purchase agreement, coordinating the closing across multiple jurisdictions, and integrating the operations of the resulting business. 

For more information: https://www.bakermckenzie.com/en/newsroom/2020/05/adam-eastell