Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

Willkie Farr & Gallagher corporate partner Jon Lyman has joined Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, where he will help expand the firm's office in Miami—a city that has become a center for private equity firms and financial institutions in recent years.

Lyman will initially be based out of New York for a few months and then move to Florida. He said he will help expand Pillsbury's Miami office, which opened in 2017, leaning on the experience he had helping build Willkie's London and Houston offices.

The office was established with six Boies Schiller Flexner attorneys — three litigators and three tax attorneys — and the addition of Lyman will add firepower to expand the outpost's corporate practice while also allowing the firm to better serve its institutional clients in South Florida, the firm said. Willkie does not have a Miami location.

While South Florida has long been a hotspot for cross-border work, there has been a migration of private equity funds and institutions moving to Miami in recent years, Lyman said. And the opportunity to take advantage of this evolution made the move a “no-brainer.”

“Miami has become so hot in recent years that it perked my attention,” said Lyman, who had been at Willkie for his entire career. “And the people [at Pillsbury] are reminiscent of the best partners I've had in my career.”

Lyman is the fourth major partner Pillsbury has added to its corporate practice since the start of the year. In January, Dechert oil and gas co-chair Gavin Watson jumped to the firm. Pillsbury also picked up Shaalu Mehra, who was the head co-chair of Gibson Dunn's technology transactions group, and Jarrod Murphy, also a Gibson Dunn partner.

Lyman said the firm is already in the process of expanding its Miami office—a mix of Pillsbury attorneys interested in moving there and outside hires who have deep connections in the city.

Asked about Lyman's departure, a Willkie spokesperson said, “We wish him well.”

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