Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison is set to open a Brussels office that will initially target antitrust work, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.
The office will be the firm’s first continental European base and follows its aggressive expansion in London over the past year. Paul Weiss did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A flood of US-led law firms have opened bases or shored up existing offices in the Belgian capital in the past four years, offering expertise to clients in the key antitrust hub that is the seat of the European Council. Top M&A deals advisers are among those seeking a foothold in the city.
Reed Smith opened a Brussels office in 2020, while Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Kirkland & Ellis, and Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle followed the next year.
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson and Weil, Gotshal Manges launched in Brussels in 2022, followed by Davis Polk & Wardwell last year.
Several of those firms have poached lawyers from UK competitors to open the new offices. Davis Polk and Simpson Thacher both launched in Brussels with the hires of partners from Allen & Overy.
Paul Weiss’ latest office follows exponential growth in London, spearheaded by the arrival of private equity star Neel Sachdev from Kirkland & Ellis last year.
Sachdev is the biggest name in a host of major hires into the firm, which has hit a variety of elite US rivals and UK firms to upgrade its London standing, reigniting a battle for talent in the city.
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