There's a mix of practices represented in Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer's 12-partner Chicago office, with one notable exception: The firm's corporate and finance group counted no Windy City-based lawyers.

That changed this week, when the Washington, D.C.-based firm added longtime Kirkland & Ellis partner Carol Anne Huff as a partner. In her 22 years at Kirkland, Chicago-based Huff represented private equity firms and public companies in capital markets transactions, mergers and acquisitions matters and other deals, as well as in restructurings.

Her past clients have included Federal Street Acquisition Corp., M III Acquisition Corp. and Cision Inc., according to her bio on Kirkland's website.

Although she declined to say which of her clients was coming with her, Huff said Arnold & Porter's work in the regulatory, health care and governmental service sectors would be "very attractive to my client base."

"My move was less about wanting to leave Kirkland than it was about looking for an opportunity that was right for me at this stage of my career," Huff said. "At this point in my career, finding an opportunity to assist a firm with a growth strategy and work with colleagues to expand a practice group was very exciting to me. I've been looking for the right opportunity."

She wasn't looking to move out of state, and Arnold & Porter have been in the process of growing both its Chicago office and its corporate and finance practice, especially its capital markets work, Huff said.

"I think many firms are looking to expand transactional groups in Chicago," Huff said. "I think adding capital markets capabilities is a natural extension of that."

Huff is the third lateral partner hire Arnold & Porter has made in its Chicago office in 2019—the other two were transportation specialist John Hagan and litigator Douglas Curtis, who jumped ship from Reed Smith and WeWork, respectively. The firm now has 30 lawyers in Chicago.

Huff's experience "in these areas will expand the scope of services we can offer clients in the Chicago market and nationally," said D. Tyler Nurnberg, head of Arnold & Porter's Chicago office, in a statement.

Prior to joining Kirkland, Huff was a law clerk for Judge Joel Flaum of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

A spokesperson for Kirkland said in a statement: "We appreciate Carol Anne's contributions and wish her well in the future."