Jenner & Block Chicago Office Recruits New Private Equity Head

Chicago law firm Jenner & Block has announced the recruiting of Mark Harris, the former head of Will & Emery’s private equity practice, as Jenner’s new head of private equity. Harris joined Jenner & Block last week as the co-chair of the private equity practice.

Lateral and high-profile recruits of partners for its corporate and other practices is a continuing strategy at Jenner & Block, and in recent years the law firm has made several noteworthy recruits. In January 2011, Jenner & Block hired Wesley Fredericks from Goodwin Procter and later two more of his colleagues, Kevin Collins and Jason Casella.

Earlier this month, former Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli rejoined Jenner’s Washington office as a partner. Perrelli is currently leading Jenner & Block’s Government Controversies and Public Policy Litigation practice group in Washington.

Harris is well-known for his expertise in advising private equity clients in mergers and acquisitions. Recently, Harris had advised Chicago-based Wrapports LLC in 2011 to acquire the Chicago Sun-Times. Harris also represented Merge Healthcare in 2010 to grow by acquiring AMICAS, a Boston-based medical information provider.

Earlier this month, Jenner & Block was included in the list of Best Places to Work by the Human Rights Campaign for the eighth year in a row. Jenner & Block achieved a 100 percent rating on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index.