Crowell & Moring Remixes its Corporate Group

While we were in Crowell & Moring's DC office talking synthetic DNA, we met with the firm's new head of London's corporate practice, Jonathan Lisle. He joins from DLA Piper, where he was the EMEA head of healthcare; before that, he co-founded CMS Cameron McKenna's healthcare group. Jonathan practices private M&A across all sectors and has advised on corporate transactions worth up to $15B; his clients have included GE Capital, Fidelity and HSBC. What some may not know is that Jonathan also used to be an international DJ.

After a workweek advising corporate clients, Jonathan would jet across the world to spin records for thousands of club goers. During one year, Jonathan recorded 2,250 billable hours (including on leading John Laing PLC’s £1B takeover by Henderson), played 45 gigs in 26 countries (including China, Japan, India, Taiwan, America, Indonesia, Australia), and was voted 81st best DJ in the world. Jonathan got into the industry after giving a CD of his work to famed DJ John Digweed, who called it the best mix he'd heard in a long time and put Jonathan's work on his Kiss FM radio show. Jonathan's since given up the DJ gigs, but has a recording studio in his home and produces music as a hobby.

Jonathan tells us his goals for Crowell's London corporate group include significantly raising the profile of the firm in London and advising on more cross-border transactions as well as domestic mid-market M&A deals. He'll help clients with their European, Middle Eastern and UK business. The more he can come to DC, the better, he says, as there are many new US clients who want to conduct deals in the UK, and vice versa. And if Jonathan wanted to use a visit to DC to showcase some of his DJ skills, we're getting tired of our Spotify playlist.