Chicago partner Andrew “Drew” Cardonick, a 25-year veteran of the Windy City's lender side banking practice, has moved to Sidley Austin from his position as co-chair of Greenberg Traurig's national financial institutions practice.

The switch comes the same month that two longtime finance partners left Sidley. Gary “Skip” Stern, a former head of the firm's global finance group, concluded a 35-year career at Sidley and joined CanAm Enterprises LLC in early January as its new managing director of legal affairs.

Global finance partner Mark Greenberg, who like Stern was also based out of Chicago, retired at the end of 2017 after 25 years at Sidley to pursue nonprofit work, according to Greenberg's biography page on LinkedIn.

Cardonick said he was eager to join Sidley, which recently named a new leader and hired a top federal prosecutor in San Francisco, after the firm reached out to him.

“For what I do, this is the gold standard,” Cardonick said. “I believe Sidley is the best lender-side finance group in the country. I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to join such a phenomenal practice and an incredible group of people.”

Cardonick represents commercial banks, business development companies and select private equity funds. He also advises lenders in restructurings and workouts, in addition to counseling clients in a variety of financing vehicles.

“We are pleased to welcome Drew to the firm as his considerable experience, particularly in lending and restructuring, will expand Sidley's finance capabilities to support our clients engaging in deals within this changing environment,” said a statement by Craig Griffith, a member of Sidley's executive committee and global finance practice.

Prior to his retirement, Greenberg last year won an award from Asian Legal Business related to his work on a deal that led to the first listed bonds in Singapore. The Astrea III Private Equity Bonds transaction issued $510 million in bonds. Stern, who led Sidley's film finance group and co-led its global finance practice, was also regularly touted as a top lawyer in his field.

Last year, Sidley hired another Greenberg Traurig partner, Daniel Serota, who joined the firm as an M&A partner in New York. But neither Serota's hire nor the recent exits from Sidley's finance practice were the primary reason for his decision to join the firm.

“Sidley's debt finance practice is, I think significantly larger, and in Chicago vastly larger than our practice was [at Greenberg Traurig],” Cardonick said. “And I think that scale and scope is really necessary to take advantage of the market opportunities that we're seeing here in Chicago. I think this is a once-in-a-lifetime market opportunity, and this is the right place to be and the right group of people to take advantage of it with.”

Cardonick, who declined to name the legal recruiter who worked on his move to Sidley, is the latest Greenberg Traurig practice leader to leave the firm this week.

A three-partner litigation team in New York led by former international litigation co-head Louis Solomon joined Reed Smith, while Greenberg Traurig's former Houston co-managing partner and energy group co-chair Douglas Atnipp decamped for Winston & Strawn.