Private Equity Fund Creates Role for London Kirkland Partner

A Kirkland & Ellis London partner has left the firm to join private equity giant Advent International in a new role created by the fund.

Helena Drury has joined Advent as European legal counsel, according to a spokesperson at the company.

The spokesperson said in a statement: “Helena Drury has been appointed to the role of European Counsel, following a period of secondment at Advent from Kirkland and Ellis. Helena is the first person to assume the role on a permanent basis and Advent is delighted to welcome her to the team.”

Drury had been a partner at Kirkland for just over a year, having joined the firm as an associate in 2017 from Addleshaw Goddard.

She is the second London corporate partner to exit Kirkland since the start of the year, after Andrej Wolf departed the firm to join Milbank earlier in January.

In 2020, other exits from Kirkland in 2020 included special situations partner Samuel Norris, who left the firm’s London office to join Ropes & Gray in November, as well as private equity partner David D’Souza to join to Herbert Smith Freehills and leveraged finance partner Ben Myers to join Gibson Dunn & Crutcher.

Other recent private practice to in-house moves include former London Schulte Roth & Zabel partner Cathy Weist’s appointment as general counsel at global alternative asset management Falcon Edge Capital in November, while in September former Slaughter and May consultant and ex-Herbert Smith Freehills partner Gillian Fairfield was made group general counsel at U.K. private hospital group Spire Healthcare.

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