Peter McCorkell

PETER McCORKELL advises on a broad range of contentious and non-contentious employment and employee benefits matters, with a focus on multinational corporate and financial services clients.

He regularly advises HR and Employee Relations teams, and in-house employment lawyers on strategic HR planning, policy drafting and implementation, complex grievance and disciplinary issues, discrimination, immigration, and employee terminations. He also advises on executive service agreements and compensation, long term incentive plans, and regulatory remuneration issues, such as those introduced under the Capital Requirements Directive.

Peter has significant experience in employment litigation, including complex discrimination claims, and works with clients to provide bespoke training programs.

He also provides support to Sidley’s Corporate group, advising on the employment law and employee representation and consultation issues that arise in the context of national and cross-border transactions.

Peter is recommended by Legal 500 UK 2026 for Employment.

Prior to joining Sidley, Peter trained and worked as a barrister in Northern Ireland, worked in the employment department of a major Scottish firm, and worked as an in-house employment lawyer of a global payment services company.

Recent experience includes advising:

• Clearlake Capital and Francisco Partners on the international employment aspects of their US$2.1 Billion Acquisition of Software Integrity Group.
• Bilkul Football on the employment issues in connection with its acquisition of West Bromwich Albion Football Club.
• Colliers on the acquisition of a 75% strategic investment in Basalt Infrastructure Partners LLP.
• Kiniciti on its investment in Ncardia, a leader in developing stem cell-based solutions for drug discovery and cell therapy.
• Confluence Technologies, Inc. in its US$500 million acquisition of Investment Metrics, a major provider of investment data, performance, analytics, and research software solutions.
• Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., a global insurance brokerage, risk management and consulting services firm, in its acquisition of the treaty reinsurance brokerage operations of Willis Towers Watson for US$3.25 billion.
• Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. in its proposed US$5.2 billion acquisition of Cornerstone OnDemand, Inc.
• Advising STORY3 Capital Partners, the Los Angeles based private equity firm, on the employment aspects of its significant minority investment in Adanola, a leading UK-based athleisure and activewear brand.
• HARMAN International on the international employment aspects of its US$350 Million acquisition of Masimo Corporation’s Sound United Consumer Audio Business.
• Tahweel Integrated Company, a Saudi Arabian leader in the cast pallet-wrap stretch film market known for delivering tailored industrial solutions across Asia and Europe, on its SAR 3 billion business combination with Nile Investment Limited.
• Ryan Specialty on the UK employment aspects of its acquisition of Innovisk.
• DigiCert on the international employment aspects of its acquisition of Vercara.
• Funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Inc. in the acquisition of The Travel Corporation.
• Newfold Digital on its acquisition of Yoast B.V., the leading search engine optimization plugin provider for WordPress.
• International Game Technology PLC on the international employment aspects of the spinoff of its Global Gaming and PlayDigital businesses in a deal valued at approximately US$6.2 billion.
• Achieve Partners on its acquisition of a majority stake in Boclips.
• Medline Industries, Inc. in its acquisition of a significant portion of Teleflex Incorporated’s respiratory business for US$286 million.
• Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. on its US$3.57 billion acquisition of Willis Towers Watson Assets.
• KKR on its investment in Feedzai, a leading cloud-based financial risk management platform.
• Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. in its acquisition of Precisely together with TA Associates.
• Great Hill Partners in connection with its investment in BigChange, the leading mobile workforce management technology company for the service and transport sectors.
• Great Hill Partners in connection with its acquisition of Notonthehighstreet, a UK curated online marketplace.
• Cubic Corporation in its acquisition by Veritas Capital and Evergreen Coast Capital for an enterprise value of US$2.8 billion.
• Regal Beloit Corporation in its US$9.1 billion combination with the Process & Motion Control (PMC) Business of Rexnord Corporation.
• Arvelle Therapeutics, a Swiss-based biopharmaceutical company, on its sale to Angelini Pharma for a total cash consideration of up to US$960 million.
• Quest Software, a global systems management, data protection, and security software provider, in the acquisition of Erwin, Inc.
• GIC in connection with a US$1 billion investment in Convex Group, led by GIC and Onex Partners.
• KKR on its acquisition of Argenta, a leading animal pharmaceutical research and manufacturing company.
• Dude Solutions Inc., a SaaS provider of cloud-based operations management software backed by Clearlake Capital Group, L.P., in the acquisition of the asset management platform Confirm.
• Affiliates of Siris Capital Group, LLC and Pulse Secure, LLC in the sale of Pulse Secure, LLC to Ivanti, Inc.
• Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company on its acquisition of a shareholding in Rothesay Life.
• Queen Park’s Equity on its acquisition of Learndirect Limited and its subsidiaries, a provider of online learning platform and courses.
• KKR on its investment in Zwift.
• Travelex on its financial and operational restructuring.
• TowerBrook Capital Partners on the acquisition of the Azzurri Group.
• H.I.G. Capital and Vernacare on the acquisition of Infection Prevention.
• Goldman Sachs on its investment in tech platform LumApps.
• Inspired Entertainment, Inc., a leading supplier of gaming terminals in the UK, on the proposed transformational acquisition of the Gaming Technology Group of Novomatic UK Ltd.
• TowerBrook in its sale of Metallo, a metal recycler and refiner, to Aurubis AG.
• eBay Inc. on its acquisition of Motors.co.uk from Cox Automotive Relation Solutions.
• TowerBrook on its investment in the GBA Group, a UK-based vehicle logistics business servicing the global automotive and shipping industries.
• WEX Inc., a leading financial technology service provider, in connection with its planned acquisition of EG Group Limited’s GO Fuel Card business.
• PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk on the takeover offer by a wholly owned subsidiary for Ophir Energy plc.
• Cincinnati Financial Corporation on its acquisition of Beaufort from Munich Re.
• Apollo Global Management on its US$2.6 billion acquisition of publicly traded Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited.
• Gilde Buy Out Partners in its investment in Caseking, a leading supplier of high-performance PC gaming equipment and peripherals.
• Archer Daniels Midland on its acquisition of Probiotics International Limited, a UK-based provider of probiotic supplements for human, pet and production-animal use.
• KKR on its investment in OutSystems, the global leader in low-code rapid application development, as part of a US$360 million investment round (together with Goldman Sachs).
• Five Arrows Principal Investments in its sale of and co-investment in Datix, a patient safety and risk management software company.
• TransUnion on its acquisition of Callcredit, which was named “Private Equity Deal of the Year (Over $1B)” by The M&A Advisor at the 11th Annual International M&A Awards.
• Blackbaud, Inc., the world’s largest non-profit cloud software company, on its acquisition of UK-based online fundraising services provider, JustGiving. 
• Buckthorn Partners on its acquisition of TWMA Group Limited, a drilling waste management and solutions provider.
• An overseas company on the remuneration policy requirements under the Listing Rules and UK Corporate Governance Code to be listed on the London Stock Exchange. 
• A global payment services institution on the impact to its compensation structure of the bonus caps under the Capital Requirements Directive IV.