Weil, Gotshal & Manges is expanding its European private equity group by welcoming back Kamyar Abrar, a former Willkie Farr & Gallagher co-managing partner, who will now co-lead Weil’s German PE practice. Abrar was a Weil partner from 2017 to 2020 before he joined Willkie. He is the 17th partner to move to Weil in the past two years. “Kamyar is one of Germany’s foremost private equity lawyers and an exceptionally talented client adviser. We are delighted to welcome him back,” Weil executive partner Barry Wolf said in a statement. The news comes three months after Sebastian Pauls joined Weil from Latham & Watkins, bringing a team including partners Susanne Decker and Andreas Holzgreve. Latham then hired four of Freshfields’ private equity lawyers. “Kamyar is one of the finest lawyers in the market and he will immediately scale our capabilities on large, complex and strategic private equity deals, helping to drive our next phase of growth,” Pauls, co-managing partner of Weil’s German offices, said. Marco Compagnoni, Weil’s global co-head of private equity, described Kamyar as one of Germany’s most acclaimed private equity and M&A lawyers who advises on big-ticket European and U.S. cross-border transactions. Weil has added substantial firepower to its private equity team across Europe. In London, the firm hired secondaries partner Simon Saitowitz, who acted on the five of the largest European GP-led transactions in 2025. The firm also promoted five private equity partners in London and Paris. Willkie was approached for comment.