Key Takeaways
- • Latham & Watkins hired Jeremy Kenley, a private equity real estate partner from Gibson Dunn's London office, strengthening the firm's real estate platform amid accelerating market demand.
- • Kenley brings deep expertise in real estate M&A, asset and debt acquisitions, joint ventures, and fund formation, with a notable client roster including Apollo (where he served as general counsel for global real estate) and Brookfield.
- • The hire coincides with Brookfield's announcement of a $100 billion global AI infrastructure programme focused on data centres, positioning Latham to capture high-value mandates in this emerging asset class.
- • Corporate real estate hiring across London law firms has intensified in 2025, with competing firms recruiting senior partners from rival practices—including Hogan Lovells, Freshfields, Cleary Gottlieb, and Baker McKenzie all bolstering their real estate benches.
- • The talent migration reflects structural underweight in real estate practices at major firms and growing institutional demand for legal expertise in complex real estate transactions tied to AI infrastructure and data centre development.
Summary
Latham & Watkins has hired Jeremy Kenley, a prominent private equity real estate partner, from Gibson Dunn's London office, adding to a marked uptick in corporate real estate recruitment across the City. Kenley, who joined Gibson Dunn in 2018 from Mayer Brown, is recognized as one of London's leading PE real estate practitioners with experience spanning real estate M&A, asset and debt acquisitions, joint ventures, and equity and debt fund structuring. His client relationships include Apollo, where he previously served as general counsel for global real estate, and Brookfield, a position that carries particular strategic significance for Latham given Brookfield's concurrent announcement.
On the same day Kenley's appointment was confirmed, Brookfield unveiled a $100 billion global AI infrastructure programme with substantial investment directed toward data centres—a rapidly expanding asset class in the wake of accelerating artificial intelligence adoption. The timing positions Latham to capture significant legal mandates in this high-value sector. Ed Barnett, Latham's London managing partner, characterized Kenley as a "star name" whose arrival strengthens the firm's real estate platform at a time of heightened transactional demand, emphasizing his "impressive track record advising across the full spectrum of complex transactions."
The Kenley hire is part of a broader competitive frenzy for real estate talent among major international firms. In 2025, Hogan Lovells recruited Paul Hastings partners Michael James and Edward Meadowcroft in September, while fellow Paul Hastings alumnus Stephen Nicolas joined Cleary Gottlieb to launch its European real estate practice in October. Freshfields secured Ropes & Gray partners David Seymour and Will Bryant in July, and Mishcon de Reya partner Mark Thompson, also experienced with Brookfield matters, moved to Baker McKenzie over the summer. This consolidation reflects a structural trend: corporate real estate has historically been underweight on many firms' benches, prompting coordinated expansion as institutional capital flows into complex real estate transactions, particularly in AI-adjacent infrastructure.
On the same day Kenley's appointment was confirmed, Brookfield unveiled a $100 billion global AI infrastructure programme with substantial investment directed toward data centres—a rapidly expanding asset class in the wake of accelerating artificial intelligence adoption. The timing positions Latham to capture significant legal mandates in this high-value sector. Ed Barnett, Latham's London managing partner, characterized Kenley as a "star name" whose arrival strengthens the firm's real estate platform at a time of heightened transactional demand, emphasizing his "impressive track record advising across the full spectrum of complex transactions."
The Kenley hire is part of a broader competitive frenzy for real estate talent among major international firms. In 2025, Hogan Lovells recruited Paul Hastings partners Michael James and Edward Meadowcroft in September, while fellow Paul Hastings alumnus Stephen Nicolas joined Cleary Gottlieb to launch its European real estate practice in October. Freshfields secured Ropes & Gray partners David Seymour and Will Bryant in July, and Mishcon de Reya partner Mark Thompson, also experienced with Brookfield matters, moved to Baker McKenzie over the summer. This consolidation reflects a structural trend: corporate real estate has historically been underweight on many firms' benches, prompting coordinated expansion as institutional capital flows into complex real estate transactions, particularly in AI-adjacent infrastructure.
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