Simpson Thacher keeps building Boston, and Clifford Chance takes a Jones Day partner

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett added a private equity partner in Boston, hired from Ropes & Gray. That office has grown to about 50 lawyers since it opened in 2024, and the firm is taking new space with room to double the headcount. Clifford Chance hired a Jones Day partner for its debt finance practice in Houston, where the head of the office says the firm is pushing to build out US finance. Debevoise & Plimpton brought in two AI lawyers from Davis Polk & Wardwell as counsel in New York and Washington, DC, as it builds out a client-facing AI advisory platform.

On the business side, Holland & Knight failed to get the GWG Holdings fraud suit thrown out. The firm and one of its partners now have to face claims that they helped loot the bankrupt bond seller, in a case seeking about $148 million.