A Senior JPMorgan Deal Maker Returns to the Law

One of JPMorgan Chase’s most senior deal makers is heading back to the practice of law.

James C. Woolery, JPMorgan Chase’s co-head of North American mergers and acquisitions, said on Sunday that he is leaving the firm after a two-year stint to become the deputy chairman of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.

It is the latest turn in the career of Mr. Woolery, who joined JPMorgan in 2011 after 17 years at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, one of the top mergers law firms in the country.

In his second career as an investment banker, he worked on some of the biggest deals of the past two years, including AT&T’s attempted takeover of T-Mobile USA and Dell’s $24.4 billion sale to its founder and the investment firm Silver Lake.

His decision marked him as one of a handful of top deal lawyers to try his hand at banking; Robert Kindler left the firm as a partner in 2000 to join JPMorgan, and now serves as Morgan Stanley’s head of mergers worldwide.

Over all, JPMorgan currently leads the ndustry in global announced deals, with $113.2 billion worth of announced transactions for the year to date, according to Thomson Reuters.

The move wasn’t made out of dissatisfaction with JPMorgan, Mr. Woolery added. His co-head of North American mergers, Chris Ventresca, will continue to run the division.

“Chris was a wonderful partner,” Mr. Woolery said in an interview. “What we were able to do is highlight the M&A focus and talent in the firm.”

Even so, he said that he had still occasionally considered a return to the world of law.

“I didn’t leave the law and think, ‘Well, thank God that’s over,’” Mr. Woolery said.

The opportunity to make that move came several months ago when Cadwalader’s chairman, Chris White, approached Mr. Woolery about moving to the firm and its Downtown Manhattan offices. The pitch: help push the 221-year-old Cadwalader further into the top ranks of advisers on corporate and regulatory matters.

Rather than trying to! compete with giant law firms that offer a “supermarket” model of dozens of practice areas, Mr. Woolery said, the idea is to keep Cadwalader focused on helping clients on mergers, debt offerings, antitrust and a handful of other areas.

He will also remain an active deal maker, intent on improving his new employer’s reputation for deal making. His time as a banker, he said, helped him think about all the issues that corporate boards and other clients must consider.

And as for competing against his former colleagues at Cravath, Mr. Woolery wished them well.

“Cravath will be Cravath,” he said, calling them a standard setter for the industry. “I want nothing but the best for that firm.”