Norton Rose Fulbright has made a twin hire in London from Locke Lorde and Dechert to expand its real estate and private equity teams.

The incoming duo include data centre partner Kirsty Harrower, who joins the real estate team from Locke Lord, and private equity lawyer Jamal Tuhin, who arrives from Dechert and also becomes a partner.

Harrower brings with her extensive experience in advising institutional investors, private equity firms, data centre operators and other businesses on data centre projects in the UK and internationally, as well as other real estate deals including development and site assembly projects, refinancings and lettings.

David Hawkins, Norton Rose Fulbright’s London head of real estate, said: “Kirsty will make an excellent addition to our international real estate practice. Her knowledge around data centres is unparalleled and will strengthen our existing data centre experience and practice.

“In recent years data centres have played a pivotal role in the real estate sector, with an additional boost from the increased demand for data, particularly following the pandemic. We are seeing a strong pipeline of work in this area.”

Harrower joins after just over six years at Locke Lord, where she made partner at the start of 2023. Prior to that she spent almost nine years as a senior associate at Mayer Brown and three years at legacy firm Nabarro, which was punctuated by a short spell as an in-house lawyer for the 2012 London Olympic Games. She originally trained at Lupton Fawcett in Leeds.

She said: “Norton Rose Fulbright already has a stellar reputation in the real estate, energy and infrastructure sectors and I look forward to being part of such a well respected team.”

Tuhin, meantime, arrives after just under seven years at Dechert, where he was a senior associate. He brings a range of private equity deal experience working with sponsors on domestic and international M&A, notably in the life sciences, healthcare, tech and financial services sectors.

Raj Karia, head of corporate, M&A and securities for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Norton Rose Fulbright, said: “[Tuhin] has an excellent track record in advising on high-value, cross border deals and he will be a fantastic addition to our team.”

Prior to his time at Dechert he spent just over two years at White & Case, having trained at Linklaters.

He said: “I’m excited to join Norton Rose Fulbright, a firm with an enviable global platform and a long-established presence across all major financial centres worldwide. I look forward to working with my new colleagues to support clients on complex deals and drive forward the firm’s private equity practice.”

Other firms that have recently strengthened their real estate and private equity teams in London include McDermott Will & Emery, which hired healthcare-focused private equity partner Jason Zemmel from CMS in October and real estate duo Darren Rogers and Devina Rana from Fried Frank in June.