Hogan Lovells has added to its London real estate finance practice with the hire of two new partners.
Andrew Flemming and Jo Solomon join from Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP), their departures were announced in March (March 2014) though the move to Hogan Lovells has only now been confirmed.
Flemming's recent work includes advice to Barclays Capital on a loan-to-loan to Maybourne Finance and Lloyds on a refinancing facility to Peel Holding. Solomon has advised the likes of St David's Limited Partnership on a joint venture between Land Securities Group and Capital Shopping Centres.
Sharon Lewis, Hogan Lovells head of finance pointed to a need for bench strength as the key reason behind the hires: "First class strength in depth in a wide breadth of different banking specialisations is vital to maintaining our position as a leading adviser to banks and other key financial institutions so continuing to grow our finance practice globally is a key strategic priority for the firm," she said.
The departures from BLP are the latest in a series and in 2014 the firm has already seen the loss of asset finance partner Keith Wilson (May 2014) who left for CMS and Lucy Oddy, a structured finance partner, whose departure for Latham & Watkins was announced at the same time as Flemming and Solomon.
The last year has also seen the likes of Matthew Kellett, Lisa Marks, Michael Weir and Trevor Wood all depart the finance department of the UK firm.