McDermott Will & Schulte has hired real estate specialist Owen Jones from Tristan Capital Partners to enhance its real estate finance expertise across Europe.
Jones joins as a partner in London, bringing experience in the structuring, execution and asset management of complex debt investments across the UK and continental Europe. His practice encompasses senior and mezzanine financing, development funding and loan restructurings, including supporting institutional sponsors and lenders in cross-border transactions.
He leaves Tristan Capital – a real estate-focused private equity firm – after five years, having been promoted to executive director after 18 months. He was previously an associate at BCLP in the real estate finance team, where he spent five years, including a secondment to La Salle Investment Management. He trained and qualified at Eversheds Sutherland.
Harris Siskind, global head of McDermott’s transactions practice, said: “Owen is an excellent lawyer with strong commercial instincts and a collaborative approach.
“We’ve long sought to build out our real estate offering in London, a key European hub for our global clients. Owen’s arrival, following the strategic additions of Darren Rogers, Devina Rana and Neeraj Tah last year, marks another important step in delivering a full-service real estate platform across jurisdictions.”
The trio joined pre-merger McDermott Will & Emery in London as part of a significant investment in talent acquisition in the City, which began with the high-profile hire of veteran dealmaker Graham White and has since expanded to other sectors.
These hires are part of the firm’s broader expansion following the merger of McDermott Will & Emery and Schulte Roth & Zabel that went live last month, creating a $2.8bn law firm now known as McDermott Will & Schulte. The merger also increased the firm’s presence in London, adding 24 lawyers to McDermott’s 90-strong team in the City, including more than 30 partners.
Aymen Mahmoud, managing partner of the London office, said: “Owen’s breadth of experience across this sector gives him a uniquely dynamic and commercially attuned perspective on real estate finance. His skillset and energy will significantly enhance our real estate offering.”
Jens Ortmanns, head of McDermott’s global real estate practice, added: “We had the opportunity to work closely with Owen on multiple cross-border transactions and were impressed by his energy and technical precision.
“That experience gave us real insight into the value he brings, and we’re confident our clients will benefit from Owen’s deep market knowledge and strong relationships as we continue to grow our global real estate platform.”
Jones’s arrival comes as Reed Smith also made a senior London transactional hire with the hire of experienced corporate partner Andrew Houghton from Proskauer Rose, where he specialised in financial services and fintech transactions.
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