Brien Wassner has joined Sidley Austin in New York as a partner in its global M&A and Private Equity practice.

He joins Sidley from Shearman & Sterling, where he was a partner in the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions practice and one of the leaders of its Private Capital Industry group.

“Brien joins Sidley as part of the rapid and continued expansion of our private equity, M&A and leveraged finance capabilities over the last several years,” said Sam Gandhi, managing partner of Sidley’s New York office and a member of the firm’s executive committee. “He is a significant addition to the deep team we have built in New York in the private equity space. We are fortunate to bring Brien on particularly given the stellar reputation he’s built in the highly competitive New York private equity market.”

Wassner represents clients in cross-border and domestic M&A, joint ventures, divestitures, carve-outs, leveraged buyouts, take-private transactions, tender and exchange offers, securities and other corporate matters. His clients include private equity funds, infrastructure funds, hedge funds, venture capital funds, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, corporates, other sponsors and asset managers, and financial institutions.