Kirkland & Ellis LLP announced today that the Firm has expanded its West Coast corporate practice with the hiring of leading attorneys Michael S. Ringler and Rick C. Madden. Mr. Ringler will join the Firm as a partner in the San Francisco office and was previously a mergers and acquisitions partner in the San Francisco office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Mr. Madden will join as a partner in the Firm's Los Angeles office and was previously a corporate partner in the Los Angeles office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy represented HS1, Ltd. – a consortium of Borealis Infrastructure and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, and owners of the High Speed 1 (“HS1”) railway in the UK – in a $915 million private placement issuance. The proceeds will go towards refinancing the $2.1 billion project costs incurred by HS1, Ltd. in 2010 when it won a 30-year concession to own and operate the railway from the UK government's London & Continental Railways.

Venable LLP announced today that William J. Briggs, II has joined the Los Angeles office as partner in the Commercial Litigation Group. Briggs is an entertainment industry veteran representing well-known talent in film, television and music as well as production and music publishing companies. Previously, Briggs was a partner at Lavely & Singer in Los Angeles.

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP advised Marlin Equity Partners (“Marlin”)in connection with its investment in Neff, Inc. (“Neff”), a leading accessories and apparel company focused on the action sports youth lifestyle market based in Camarillo, CA.