Global law firm White & Case LLP has expanded its Global Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Practice and Global Private Equity Industry Group with the addition of Lavanya Raghavan as a partner in London.
"We are continuing to grow our global private equity practice to meet the increasing demand from clients for funds support," said White & Case partner John Reiss, head of the Firm's Global M&A Practice. "Funds are an integral part of the private equity, sovereign wealth, infrastructure, asset management, hedge, debt and real estate fund sectors and to achieve our ambitious goals for our private equity group, it is critical that we continue to enhance our ability to advise our global financial sponsor clients. Lavanya's addition to our London office, where she will be reunited with funds partner Emily Brown, supports the continued growth of our funds practice globally."
Lavanya advises established and emerging sponsors of private funds on fund formation, co-investments, carried interest and executive participation schemes and governance arrangements, as well as significant institutional investors on primary investments, co-investments and secondary transactions. Her experience spans a range of sectors and clients, including private equity, real estate, infrastructure, sovereign wealth funds and development finance institutions. Lavanya joins White & Case from Ropes & Gray, where she was counsel.
"Lavanya's expertise and abilities will help further strengthen our funds team in London and EMEA, where she will work particularly closely with colleagues in Luxembourg and the Middle East," said White & Case partner Lucy Bullock, Regional Section Head, EMEA M&A/Private Equity. "Her multi-jurisdiction experience makes her the perfect fit for our team."
White & Case partner and Vice Chair Oliver Brettle said: "Lavanya's arrival follows the strategic investment in funds demonstrated by the recent additions of funds partners Emily Brown in London, Phillip Sacks in Dubai and Omar Hemady in Boston." Brettle also noted: "2024 has seen significant investments more broadly by the Firm, as you can see with private equity partners Taurie Zeitzer joining in New York and Sten Olsson in Helsinki and M&A partner Patrick Sarch in London."
Additional EMEA lateral partners since the start of 2024 include: commercial litigation/white collar partners Kami Haeri and Alexandre Kiabski in Paris and Darryl Bernstein in Johannesburg, high yield partner Anthony Tama and ESG and sustainability partner Stephen Shergold in London, and competition partner Ingo Brinker in Germany.