Paul Hastings Expands Private Equity Practice With Premier Partner in London

LONDON – Continuing the expansion of its premier global private equity, growth and strategic M&A platform, Paul Hastings today announces the addition of Ferish Patel as a partner in London.

Patel’s practice is structured around “lifecycle representation.” He advises companies and investors on their full complement of transactions — from late-stage private financings and growth capital to M&A, IPOs, and regulatory and compliance matters, particularly in complex multijurisdictional settings. His representations involve substantial specialist and regulatory matters in areas such as financial services and payment regulation; cybersecurity and data privacy; technology transactions; life science partnering; and equity incentive structuring.

Patel’s arrival further advances Paul Hastings’ strategic priority to build PE and M&A more broadly from traditional buyout to growth, strategic and public M&A. He joins more than 25 premier partners added to the firm’s M&A platform over the past two years, and continues the strong momentum of the London office, where revenue has grown 25% year over year and 90% over the past three years. His repeated recognition as a leading practitioner across Asia-Pacific includes his Band 1 ranking by Chambers Asia-Pacific for Startups & Emerging Companies; his selection as a Leading Partner for Singapore Start-Up and Venture Capital by Legal 500 Asia Pacific; and being named a Notable Practitioner for Singapore M&A by IFLR1000. Patel joins from Cooley.

“Growth equity is an incredibly synergistic market for us as we expand market share with asset manager and corporate clients globally from California to Boston and New York to London,” said firm Chair Frank Lopez. “Ferish’s reputation and long-standing client relationships with leading private equity and growth equity sponsors, particularly in the technology and healthcare industries, combined with his lifecycle-focused practice will deepen the breadth and depth of our global private equity platform and serve as an important component for our corporate and transactional build and strategy in London.”

Patel’s clients intersect with the firm’s sector strategy around high-growth industries such as technology, healthcare, life sciences, financial services, digital infrastructure, media, and consumer sectors. His representative matters include advising advising the founders of PhonePe and Property Finder as well as FinAccel, Nium and Brookfield Private Equity on multiple growth and pre-IPO financings; Flipkart in its $16 billion sale to Walmart; Grab in its strategic investment in May Mobility. His experience supporting public offerings includes Coupang’s $4.5 billion NYSE IPO, Freshworks’ $1.1 billion Nasdaq IPO.

“I’m excited to join Paul Hastings’ London office at a time when the firm is strengthening its PE and M&A platform more broadly as part of its growth strategy,” said Patel. “The firm’s deep expertise, collaborative approach and truly global reach are competitive advantages in advising leading investors and high-growth companies on complex cross-border transactions.” 

Paul Hastings is the No. 1 firm for global deal value growth over the past two years, according to Bloomberg, with a 2025 total deal value nearly 14 times higher than the 2023 total — an increase to $275 billion from $20 billion. The firm’s average deal value climbed to $1.6 billion — more than seven times higher than 2023 ($208 million). In 2025, Paul Hastings ranked No. 13 among global firms for global M&A deals by value, jumping 59 spots from 2023, and 10 of the more than 200 deals the firm closed were valued between $5 billion and $20 billion-plus. The firm also catapulted 29 places in 2025 for total global exit deal value as sponsor counsel, per Mergermarket.

The Private Equity practice and the firm more broadly continue to gain market share with a wide range of work for leading asset managers, including Apollo, Ares, Atlas, Blackstone, Brookfield, Carlyle, EQT, Fortress, Francisco Partners, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Great Hill, H.I.G., KKR, Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, Sixth Street Partners, Symphony Technology Group and TPG.

Patel is the ninth partner addition in a series of strategic lateral hires in London over the past six months, underscoring the firm’s continued investment in the market. He follows David Richardson (Investment Funds), Jennifer Passagne (Fund Finance), Alicia Osei, Jenny Doak and Catherine Richardson (Tax), Thomas Picton (Structured Credit), Sally Evans (Antitrust) and Stephen Diosi (Employee Benefits and Incentives).

About Paul Hastings
With widely recognized elite teams across 17 core practices, Paul Hastings is a premier law firm with a culture of excellence focused on providing intellectual capital and superior execution globally to the world’s leading investment banks, asset managers and corporations. For more information, visit www.paulhastings.com.