Infrastructure specialist Vincent Casey is rejoining Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe as a partner, after a nearly five-year stint away from the firm that most recently involved a top role at Ashurst's office in New York.

Casey, whose practice focuses on advising clients on public-private partnerships, left his of counsel role at Orrick in June 2014 to become a partner at Nixon Peabody. He then jumped to Ashurst in October 2016.

Vincent Casey.

Casey pointed to the opportunity to work with Orrick's experts in public finance, tax and bankruptcy, all areas critical to success in the P3 sphere.

“The people at Orrick were friends of mine,” he said. “They were looking to build out their practice more.”

Earlier in his legal career Casey spent nearly 15 years at Shearman & Sterling, where he made partner, focusing on P3 matters and other project financings in the U.S. and Latin America. He first joined Orrick in 2006.

Casey had earlier held the title of managing partner for Ashurst's U.S. offices, and as recently as Monday morning the firm had listed him as the “lead contact” for its nine-partner New York office on its website. But a spokeswoman for the firm said that Andy Fraiser, head of energy and infrastructure for the Americas, has managed and will continue to oversee Ashurst's U.S. operations.

“Under the leadership of Andy Fraiser, our U.S. offering continues to perform exceptionally well and has grown exponentially,” the firm said.

Like Casey, Fraiser also joined the firm in 2016, coming from Allen & Overy. Since then, Ashurst has refocused its U.S. work on projects and infrastructure, while restructuring its operations in the country. The firm closed an office in Washington, D.C., but has increased its numbers in New York, from four partners in August 2017 to nine prior to Casey's departure.

“We thank Vincent for his contribution to the firm and wish him well for the future,” the firm said.

Since Casey's first stint at the firm, Orrick has added an office in Houston as well as a Latin America practice. He said he was eager to work with the Houston team and resume the Latin America work he handled earlier in his career.

More recently, Casey led the financings on several projects, including the $4.9 billion Los Angeles International Airport Automated People Mover project, the I-66 tolled expansion project in Virginia and the Denver Airport Great Hall project.

His clients include the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, toll road operator Cintra, engineering and construction multinational Fluor and Australian infrastructure investor Plenary.

“Vincent is a practitioner of the absolute highest caliber, with a strong record of getting deals done,” Dan Mathews, Orrick's energy and infrastructure sector leader, said in a statement. “Having worked in this space with him for years, I'm confident that our clients and team will be very well served by adding him to our roster.”

Update: This story has been updated with more detail on Casey's former titles at Ashurst.