Allen & Overy has hired five structured finance lawyers from US law firm Milbank in London.
The hires come ahead of the Magic Circle law firm’s merger with New York law firm Shearman & Sterling, which is set to complete in May.
The team is led by partner John Goldfinch, who specialises in advising on collateralised loan obligations.
The firm has also hired Milbank lawyers Adrian Kwok, Peter West, Eleanor Cripps and Alexandra Wells, A&O said in a statement.
READ A&O and Shearman hand out forgivable loans to lock in partners after £3.4bn merger
David Lucking, global head of international capital markets at A&O, said he looked forward to welcoming Goldfinch to the firm.
“John’s arrival will further strengthen our bench working with private capital sponsor clients accessing the structured capital markets,” he said in a statement.
The hires come in advance of A&O’s tie-up with Shearman in a deal which will create a $3.4bn revenue law firm.
Both A&O and Shearman have been working hard to retain key partners going into the deal, which was agreed last year.
The two firms have handed out forgivable loans to partners which they can keep if they stay with the newly merged firm for long enough.
Shearman has seen a large outflow of lawyers in the last 18 months, particularly from its international operations.
A four-partner private equity team quit its Paris office in September to move to US law firm Proskauer Rose.
One of the firm’s managing partners, corporate partner George Casey, quit the firm in January alongside corporate partner Heiko Schiwek, to join Linklaters in New York.
Other recent hires for A&O include Akin Gump private equity partner Sophie Jermine who joined the firm late last year.
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