Amid signs of rising restructuring demand, Sidley Austin has landed Kirkland & Ellis veteran Stephen Hessler to serve as the global practice leader of the firm’s bankruptcy group in New York. He’ll lead a restructuring group that has 50 lawyers in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Hessler, with nearly two decades of experience at Kirkland, rejoins his former colleague Anthony Grossi, who moved from Kirkland to Sidley in the fall of 2021. At the time of that hire, Sidley partner Thomas Califano said that the bankruptcy market was as slow as he’s seen it since 2007. But data released Wednesday by Epiq Bankruptcy showed that commercial Chapter 11 filings had increased 29% in June 2022 compared to June 2021.