Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy has taken on a three-partner team from Allen & Overy (A&O) in New York, including the firm’s US senior partner Kevin O’Shea.
O’Shea has more than 30 years’ experience in real estate law, heading up A&O’s real estate practice in the US. He joined the Magic Circle firm’s New York office in 2002, having previously been a partner at Paul Hastings.
He joins Milbank with real estate finance partners Erwin Dweck and Yaakov Sheinfeld. Dweck, who made partner at A&O in 2011, has a practice including advising on real estate debt and equity investment, while Sheinfeld made partner earlier this year.
Milbank chair Scott Edelman told Legal Business: ‘We’ve been looking for a high quality real estate team for many, many years and this is one of the top teams in the New York market. We’re very happy with the New York office at the moment, but real estate was one area where we didn’t previously have this kind of offering, so we’re thrilled to have them.’
The loss of its US senior partner comes after months of building out in New York by A&O. In July, the Magic Circle made a five partner hire to boost its office. The firm hired Scott Zemser as its new global co-head of leveraged finance along with Alan Rockwell and Judah Frogel from White & Case.
The firm also added Rajani Gupta from Proskauer Rose and Todd Koretzky, an associate from Milbank who made partner on joining the firm. A&O is understood to have broken its lockstep to secure the new Manhattan hires in a major finance play to compete with the US elite.
A&O senior partner Wim Dejonghe and managing partner Andrew Ballheimer this summer restated the firm’s commitment to expanding its US law offering, strengthening its practice in New York and other countries.
matthew.field@legalease.co.uk
