White & Case is adding two Allen & Overy debt finance partners in New York, Judah Frogel and Rajani Gupta, continuing a hiring spurt in which the firm had added 10 laterals to the debt finance practice globally so far in 2022.
The moves are also part of a larger, long-term pattern of Magic Circle firms struggling to hold onto talent in the U.S., with some New York partners of U.K. firms struggling to find resources and market penetration to match U.S.-based global firms.
For their part, the two partners, who arrived at Allen & Overy in 2016, declined to comment about their prior firm and whether these circumstances were a driver for their move out of Allen & Overy.
They also declined to answer whether they expected their current client base to make the move with them but did say that they “would not have initiated the search without talking to them.”
“When I was exploring making a change, I spoke with clients about how they felt about other firms in the market,” Gupta said in an interview. “White & Case’s name came up during several of those conversations. The more I learned about the firm, it because an easier decision.”
Frogel said White & Case’s “well-known cross-border capability” as well as his familiarity with the firm helped drive his decision.
“I had been at White & Case in the past,” Frogel said. “It is where I grew up. I personally hold them in very high regard. They know their documents and they know their deals. Those attributes will be at a premium as tailwinds for shaky markets take hold.”
Frogel represents investment and commercial banks, private credit lenders, private equity sponsors and corporate borrowers in wide-ranging matters from leveraged loan financings to restructuring to real estate financing, the firm said.
Frogel began his legal career as an associate at White & Case for seven years before leaving for an analyst position at Covenant Review in 2012. He then came back to White & Case for one and a half years before spending the previous six-plus years at Allen & Overy.
Gupta was an associate at Latham & Watkins for nine years before moving to Proskauer as a partner in 2012. She represents banks and other financial institutions as lenders and strategic investors, as well as private equity funds and corporations as borrowers in both foreign and domestic financings, the firm said.
“Their strong bank lending experience complements the recent investments we have made in our private credit and borrower finance capabilities and further uniquely positions the firm to provide top-tier service and advice to our clients across the full spectrum of complex leveraged financing transactions,” Eliza McDougall, White & Case’s regional section head of Americas banking, said in a statement.
Stocking up on its global debt finance practice, White & Case said it has added Vincenzo Lucibello, Jessica Ball and Jessica Shearer in its Boston office in March; Paul Yin in London in March; and Neeloferr Roy in the firm’s Paris office in March; Monica Barton in London in May; Brett Pallin in New York in June; and Jaime Rossi in Madrid earlier this month.
Allen & Overy did not immediately return a request for comment regarding Frogel and Gupta’s move.
Allen & Overy made news this summer when it declined to match the salary for newly qualified attorneys that two of its competitors, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Clifford Chance, adopted in June. The latter two firms raised the NQ salary from 107,500 euros to 125,000 euros in April and May, respectively.
The pay increases done by other Magic Circle firms are believed to be a direct response to the U.S. associate salary wars, which had bled into the U.K. and many believe pose a threat to the U.K.-based firms when it comes to attracting and retaining talent.
