Latham & Watkins Hires Two M&A Partners in New York
The law firm Latham & Watkins announced the addition of partners Emily Johnson and Mark Stagliano to its finance and public M&A practice. The hires are intended to enhance the firm's capabilities in advising on complex corporate transactions.
- Both partners, Emily Johnson and Mark Stagliano, were hired from the prestigious New York law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. - Johnson specializes in the financing aspects of complex corporate deals, including mergers and spin-offs, while Stagliano focuses on M&A, securities matters, and corporate governance. - This move is part of a larger trend of high-profile lateral hires by Latham & Watkins in New York, which includes poaching talent from rival elite firms. In June 2025, the firm hired leading M&A lawyer Zach Podolsky, also from Wachtell. - Latham & Watkins has been aggressively expanding its top-tier transactional teams; these hires follow the addition of partners from firms like Weil, Paul Weiss, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. - The firm's M&A practice consistently ranks among the top globally. In 2025, Latham & Watkins advised on deals valued at $740.4 billion, placing it first by value. - By the end of the third quarter of 2025, the firm had worked on 592 deals worth a total of $488.9 billion. - Latham is the only law firm to hold a Band 1 ranking for its Corporate/M&A practice in both the United States and the United Kingdom from Chambers, a leading legal directory. - The New York legal market remains the largest in the world and the global center for finance, making it a key battleground for top law firms competing for M&A talent and high-value transactional work.
