Key Takeaways
- • Weil, Gotshal & Manges has hired multiple partners from Kirkland & Ellis to expand its private funds practice, including Sara Allawi in New York and Andrew Nichol as a GP-stakes specialist, signaling aggressive growth in the secondaries and sponsor-led deal space.
- • Sara Allawi brings broad fund lifecycle expertise across buyout, credit, real estate, venture, secondaries, and infrastructure strategies, advising global private equity sponsors and institutional investors on fund formation and structuring.
- • Andrew Nichol joins as a dedicated GP-stakes specialist from Kirkland's investment funds and GP solutions practice, positioning Weil to capitalize on rising demand for sponsor-led secondary transactions.
- • The hires reflect accelerating market demand for secondaries expertise and GP-stakes transactions as alternative asset managers seek specialized counsel for increasingly complex fund arrangements and sponsor liquidity solutions.
- • Weil's recruitment drive extends beyond New York, with additional partner hires from Kirkland & Ellis in other jurisdictions, demonstrating a firm-wide commitment to scaling its alternative funds capability.
Summary
Weil, Gotshal & Manges has accelerated its expansion in the private funds market through a series of high-profile partner hires from Kirkland & Ellis, a rival firm with deep expertise in secondaries and GP-stakes transactions. According to Bloomberg Law, Sara Allawi joined Weil as a partner in its New York-based private funds group on Monday, April 14, 2026, bringing specialized experience in fund formation, structuring, and negotiation across the full fund lifecycle.
Allawi's practice spans multiple alternative asset strategies including buyout, credit, real estate, venture, secondaries, and infrastructure, with a track record advising both global private equity sponsors and institutional investors. Her departure from Kirkland & Ellis underscores the competitive talent wars in the alternative funds space as major law firms vie for market share in high-growth practice areas. According to Private Funds CFO, Weil's hiring push is directly responsive to rising demand for sponsor-led GP-stakes deals, a trend that has become increasingly central to secondary market activity.
Complementing Allawi's arrival, Weil has also recruited Andrew Nichol from Kirkland & Ellis as a partner with specialized focus on GP-stakes transactions. Nichol's expertise in sponsor liquidity solutions and alternative fund structuring positions Weil to serve the growing number of general partners seeking exits and capital redeployment opportunities through secondaries transactions.
The recruitment effort signals broader strategic positioning by Weil ahead of sustained demand in the alternatives market. Multiple sources indicate that clients of departing partners include institutional investors and asset managers such as Brookfield Asset Management, Coller Capital, PSP, and StepStone—establishing continuity of major relationships and validating the commercial rationale for these hires.
These moves reflect Weil's calculated expansion of its private funds platform at a critical moment when sponsor-led secondaries activity and GP-stakes structuring have become core components of alternative asset managers' capital deployment strategies. The firm is clearly competing for talent and client relationships in a market segment characterized by specialized expertise and high-value transactions.
Allawi's practice spans multiple alternative asset strategies including buyout, credit, real estate, venture, secondaries, and infrastructure, with a track record advising both global private equity sponsors and institutional investors. Her departure from Kirkland & Ellis underscores the competitive talent wars in the alternative funds space as major law firms vie for market share in high-growth practice areas. According to Private Funds CFO, Weil's hiring push is directly responsive to rising demand for sponsor-led GP-stakes deals, a trend that has become increasingly central to secondary market activity.
Complementing Allawi's arrival, Weil has also recruited Andrew Nichol from Kirkland & Ellis as a partner with specialized focus on GP-stakes transactions. Nichol's expertise in sponsor liquidity solutions and alternative fund structuring positions Weil to serve the growing number of general partners seeking exits and capital redeployment opportunities through secondaries transactions.
The recruitment effort signals broader strategic positioning by Weil ahead of sustained demand in the alternatives market. Multiple sources indicate that clients of departing partners include institutional investors and asset managers such as Brookfield Asset Management, Coller Capital, PSP, and StepStone—establishing continuity of major relationships and validating the commercial rationale for these hires.
These moves reflect Weil's calculated expansion of its private funds platform at a critical moment when sponsor-led secondaries activity and GP-stakes structuring have become core components of alternative asset managers' capital deployment strategies. The firm is clearly competing for talent and client relationships in a market segment characterized by specialized expertise and high-value transactions.
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