King & Spalding has multiplied its actual estate finance exercise in New York by recruiting partners Scott Levine and Christine O’Connell from Arnold & Porter. In huge real property financing transactions, Levine and O’Connell constitute institutional lenders, along with personal equity price range, hedge budget, and investment banks. Their movements comply with the addition to King & Spalding’s New York workplace last June of an 8-lawyer real property finance team from Riemer & Braunstein, with companions Erik Andersen, Elizabeth Gable, and Jared Zaben.
King & Spalding, based in Atlanta, has made a strong push to increase its company and finance capabilities in New York over the past numerous years, touchdown dealmaker Jim Woolery to move its M&A and company governance practices in 2017, and Jonathan Melmed final yr as a part of a seven-legal professional crew of personal fairness attorneys to co-chair its global personal fairness exercise.
“Our primary awareness of growth is in New York and London,” said Todd Holleman, the New York-based leader of King & Spalding’s company, finance, and funding practice. “We are using New York to assist force the possibilities and paintings at some point of the platform. We knew Scott and Christine thru Erik and Elizabeth so that they may be a herbal extension to us.” King & Spalding’s attorney head rely on New York has grown to about 200 attorneys—up from a hundred and seventy closing August. With about 1,100 attorneys globally, the firm mentioned a 10.8% sales boom to $1.26 billion last year.
Calling Levine and O’Connell “plugged in and lively,” Holleman stated their hobby in working with the opposite lawyers inside the real property finance and associated practices to increase purchaser relationships—each theirs and those of the company—is what King & Spalding looks for in lateral companions. The firm’s subculture emphasizes and rewards “working in corporations, being collaborative and sharing credit score,” he said. “That resonates with a whole lot of our laterals, and a part of our increase plan in New York is to use that distinction to draw skills.”
O’Connell said King & Spalding’s addition of the actual estate finance team from Riemer & Braunstein become the impetus for her and Levine’s very own flow to the firm, as the two have a good dating with the crew’s leaders, Andersen and Gable. “Scott and I even have worked with them or throughout from them on offers for many years,” O’Connell stated. “We noticed what they were doing here, and it became very thrilling to us. We are looking at the next segment of our profession, and it’s a threat to virtually have involvement in constructing something.”
“It’s a tiny industry—and lots of folks recognize us and Erik and Elizabeth,” she added, so the combination is a danger to increase extra commercial enterprise. Levine and O’Connell practiced together because they started their prison careers at New York-based totally Kaye Scholer 12 years ago. That company merged with Washington-based Arnold & Porter in 2016 to form Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer. “We started the equal day within the identical institution, and we have been usually one office other than every other,” Levine stated. While the 2 don’t necessarily paintings at equal subjects, they stated their careers had had the same trajectory.
With Andersen and Gable’s crew, King & Spalding now has a “well-developed organization” in New York. This is nonetheless in increase mode, Levine stated. “They’ve got an amazing engine going on, and, with King & Spalding’s vast platform, we can bring inside the tax, ERISA and environmental people for offers,” he stated, that is beneficial for his or her personal fairness lender clients. “Scott and Christine are notable additions to the practice and a brilliant observe-on to the 8-attorney team we hired final 12 months,” said the firm’s New York coping with a partner, Edward Kehoe, in an assertion. “We are investing closely across our transactional practices in New York, and real property is one of the areas wherein we keep growing profitably.”
