Squire Patton Boggs (SPB) has hired two structured finance lawyers from Reed Smith in New York and London to bolster its transatlantic finance capabilities.
Trish O’Donnell joins the firm in New York as a partner, while Nathan Menon joins in London as a director.
O’Donnell – who is dual-qualified in London and New York – has an impressive CV, having spent time at CMS and White & Case before joining Reed Smith. She is an expert in structured finance, specialised finance and private credit transactions, with expertise in financing esoteric assets through ABS and private placement transactions.
She also has experience in highly structured transactions, including repacks, structured repos, receivables financings and bespoke structured financings, as well as transactions related to blockchain technology such as tokenisation and decentralised finance deals.
SPB’s Jim Barresi, who leads the global finance practice, said the duo would “complement our strategic expansion efforts aimed at increasing the scale of capabilities we provide clients across the financial services sector”.
The duo’s arrival follows that of partner Ranajoy Basu, who joined the firm’s London office in July from legacy McDermott Will & Emery to serve as global head of structured finance, as well as heading the firm’s India practice.
Basu is a former partner at Reed Smith, where he worked for eight years before joining McDermott in 2020. He collaborated with Menon during his 14-year tenure at his previous firm and also worked with O’Donnell in New York during her nine-year tenure at the firm, which included more than three years as a partner.
Basu said that both incoming lawyers brought “substantial expertise advising on a range of complex financing transactions, which perfectly complements the cross-border structured finance and private capital team we are building”.
O’Donnell said she joined SPB, among other reasons, owing to SPB’s “strong commitment to expand the firm’s financial services offering in key areas, including structured finance and private capital”.
In recent months SPB has hired private capital head Gabriel Yomi Dabiri, accompanied by associated teams in New York and Washington DC, after moving from Ponsonelli where he served as its New York office managing partner.
The firm also hired EY’s Monica Gogna as global head of financial regulation to lead a team in London.
While SPB has recently made some significant senior regional hires, it has also experienced departures, with trade finance expert Robert Parson joining Sullivan & Worcester this week. It also saw Greenberg Traurig gain a respected hospitality law partner, Elias Hayek, in July.
A Reed Smith spokesperson said: “I can confirm that Nathan Menon and Trish O’Donnell have left the firm. We thank them for their contributions and wish them well for the future.”
Meanwhile Reed Smith added former Norton Rose Fulbright head of fintech Etelka Bogardi as a partner in the firm’s financial industry group, located in the Singapore office but serving the Asia market. She will join in November.
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