Linklaters has secured a high-profile partner from Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz as part of its ongoing push to expand its footprint in the United States. Mark Gordon, a veteran lawyer with more than three decades of experience at Wachtell, will join the London-based firm in November as managing partner of its Americas practice and co-chair of its global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) division.

This move represents a significant coup for Linklaters, one of the UK’s leading “magic circle” law firms, which has historically found it challenging to attract top talent from Wall Street rivals. Gordon’s arrival follows a series of notable departures from Wachtell, a firm long known for its lockstep compensation model and dominant position advising on some of corporate America's largest transactions.

Wachtell’s client roster includes landmark deals such as Bank of America’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch and Twitter's $44 billion sale to Elon Musk. Despite its reputation and high average partner earnings, the firm has recently experienced a wave of partner exits amid intensifying competition for elite lawyers. Earlier this year, former co-chair Bill Savitt left after leading a team in high-profile litigation for OpenAI, and former head of restructuring Joshua Feltman departed for Kirkland & Ellis with a reportedly lucrative compensation package. Additionally, several younger partners have moved to firms such as Latham & Watkins.

For Linklaters, bolstering its US M&A capabilities forms a central part of its strategy to deepen client service in the world's largest legal market. The firm currently has eight M&A partners in the United States alongside 51 based in London. It recently made other key hires, including recruiting a five-lawyer litigation team from Paul Weiss and appointing Erik Haas, formerly Johnson & Johnson’s global head of litigation, in New York.

“We’re very ambitious in the US — it’s a critical market for many of our clients and we want to be able to act for them everywhere,” said Linklaters senior partner Aedamar Comiskey. He described expanding the number of US M&A partners as “central” to the firm’s plans.

At Wachtell, Gordon has played a lead role on several major transactions, including AZEK Company’s $9 billion acquisition of James Hardie Industries last year and Alexion Pharmaceuticals’ $39 billion sale to AstraZeneca in 2021. At Linklaters, he will join forces with George Casey, an influential M&A partner who joined the firm earlier this year and now chairs its American operation.

Wachtell issued a brief statement thanking Gordon for his service and wishing him success in his new role, underscoring the continued competitive pressures facing the longstanding firm. Meanwhile, Linklaters’ latest hire signals its intent to challenge US rivals more aggressively and carve out a stronger position in cross-border corporate work.