Nixon Peabody Loses Its Private Equity Deal Team

Dominick DeChiara is leaving Nixon Peabody, where he has served as chair of private equity, in order to join fellow law firm Winston & Strawn. Also leaving will be partner Brad Vaiana, and Nixon Peabody’s “core deal team.”

The moves are effective at the close of business today. DeChiara says that the Winston platform is better in that it offers his team a “deeper bench.” Indeed, Winston’s private equity deal team in Chicago may actually be a bit larger than what DeChiara has been leading in New York. He declined to comment on what his team’s departure means for Nixon Peabody, which already has removed DeChiara and company from some — but not all — parts of its website (get his cached bio here).

I’ve left a message for comment with Nixon Peabody, which currently lists fund formation attormey Charlie Jacobs as its primary contact for private equity. Will update this post if the firm responds.

Update Nixon Peabody has issued the following statement:

Lateral movement is a common dynamic in today’s competitive legal marketplace. We respect Dom’s and Brad’s decision to leave the firm.

We have a number of strong deal teams as part of our leading private equity practice, which is ranked among the most active law firms in private equity by Dow Jones. We are committed to attracting and retaining the best talent in the industry to deliver the highest quality of legal services to our clients.