The trend of attorneys moving from large global law firms to smaller players in the mid-market continues as Honigman gains an experienced private equity advisor from Kirkland & Ellis.
Alex Plakas, a Chicago-based attorney, advises corporations, private equity funds, and their portfolio companies on mergers and acquisitions and leveraged buyouts. Plakas has advised clients active in the technology, healthcare, manufacturing, consulting, marketing, and food and beverage sectors, among others. Plakas had been at Kirkland since October 2007.
Honigman has had consistent luck in luring talent from better-known law firms. Honigman’s expansion into Chicago came in June 2015 through a combination with a litigation firm, Schopf & Weiss. The new Honigman office opened with corporate partner René Ghadimi, from Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, and intellectual property specialist Gregory Morris, from Paul Hastings, on board.
Plakas’s move to Honigman in Chicago comes just a few months after the firm snagged another Midwest-based Kirkland attorney, Robert Kiburz, in May. Kiburz joined Honigman’s corporate practice in Detroit, a city emerging from Chapter 11 and offering myriad opportunities for private equity shops interested in M&A, joint ventures, financings, dispositions, recapitalizations, and restructurings. At the time of Kiburz’s hiring, Honigman also gained former Pillsbury lawyer Meredith Ervine as a securities and capital markets partner in Kalamazoo.
Plakas holds a JD and a BBA from the University of Notre Dame.