King & Spalding Loses M&A Head

Jim Woolery, the head of M&A and corporate governance at King & Spalding, has left the law firm and is exploring launching his own advisory practice, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, October 13.

Woolery, a former co-head of North American mergers and acquisitions (M&A) at JPMorgan Chase & Co and a former partner at law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore, is considering launching a “boutique” firm with a focus on advising major sources of capital, such as billionaires, sovereign wealth funds and special-purpose acquisition vehicles, the sources said.

King & Spalding did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

While boutique firms are common in investment banking, few corporate lawyers have branched out on their own. Were Woolery to launch his own firm, he would no longer be restricted in his ability to work on clients by other assignments that King & Spalding has in its big practice, which ranges from litigation and regulation to M&A and shareholder activism.

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