Cleary Gottlieb Continues London Growth with Strategic Funds Partner Hire

Cleary Gottlieb announced today that David Christmas will join the firm’s London office on May 5 as a partner in its top-tier Global Funds practice

David’s practice focuses on fund formation across a range of alternative asset classes, and he also has significant experience in GP-led secondary transactions.

“The continued expansion of our global funds and private capital capabilities remains a principal strategic priority for Cleary globally, and hiring David will greatly enhance our very successful European offering led by Mike James in London, especially as our asset management clients diversify their strategies across private equity, credit, real assets and secondaries,” said London partner and Executive Committee member Tihir Sarkar. “The London office has experienced tremendous growth across our core practice groups—our partner headcount has doubled since 2021—and the momentum is continuing.”

Our Global Funds team is ranked Band 1 for Fund Formation in the U.S. by Chambers, having advised on funds with commitments exceeding $500 billion worldwide in its 30-year history.

“Our Global Funds team is consistently instructed on complex and incredibly impressive transactions, which demonstrates the team’s commitment to supporting highly sophisticated clients,” said Managing Partner Jeff Karpf. “David’s deep experience is a superb addition to our funds platform which combines transatlantic, Asian and bicoastal U.S. coverage, making us uniquely positioned to capture the increasingly complex, multinational opportunities that our clients are pursuing.”

“Cleary’s Global Funds practice and its market coverage and depth of expertise were a major draw for me,” said David. “Even more impressive is their collaborative platform that’s spread across numerous key jurisdictions and specialties, which is highly regarded in the market. I’m delighted to join a team of such talented lawyers.”

David was recognized in Law.com International’s 2022 list of Private Equity Rising Stars: Europe’s Best Up-and-Coming Lawyers and in the Legal 500 as a Leading Partner in Investment Funds: Private Funds. He is Cleary’s seventh partner hire in 2026, following a record-breaking year for promotions and hires in 2025, which brought in and elevated a combined 41 partners globally across the corporate, funds, capital solutions, antitrust, and litigation practices.