Latham & Watkins is recruiting again from Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The Am Law 100 firm on Saturday confirmed the hiring of Emily Johnson and Mark Stagliano in New York from Wachtell, with Johnson joining the firm's banking & private credit and capital markets practices, and Stagliano joining the M&A and private equity practices. The firm had already accelerated its lateral hiring in 2026 relative to the same period last year, with the balance of additions coming in transactional, finance and other corporate practices. And Big Law more broadly has continued to stockpile M&A and deal talent so far in 2026. Latham hired from Wachtell last year, adding one of Big Law's top dealmakers in Zach Podolsky in June, as well as partner John Sobolewski to chair its global liability management practice last February. Firm leaders called Johnson and Stagliano "among a select group" of talented lawyers, noting they have "enormous credibility" in boardrooms. “Their market-leading practices directly support our strategic focus to advise our clients on complex transactions across the capital structure and high-profile public company M&A. No other firm combines our excellence and scale—nor our ambition—and Emily and Mark joining us is another major milestone for our firm," firm chair Rich Trobman said in a statement. The firm noted Johnson advises companies, borrowers and strategic acquirers on strategic capital structures. She has specific experience with investment-grade and leveraged financings, bank and direct lending, public and private capital markets transactions and liability management, to name a few, and her practice involves a lot of work with boards of directors and senior management teams. Stagliano works on public company and sponsor-side mergers and acquisitions, the firm added, and advises on domestic and cross-border acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, spin-offs and other capital markets and private equity deals. He also counsels on shareholder activism, takeover defense and proxy contests, Latham stated in a release. "They are well-respected senior counselors with enormous credibility in boardrooms. Having led numerous sophisticated and transformative transactions over many years, their range of skills and sought-after expertise significantly expands our already strong and growing platform and the best-in-class counsel we provide to our clients," said Marc Jaffe, managing partner of Latham's New York office, in a statement. A Wachtell representative didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment.