Two former Kirkland & Ellis attorneys have joined Latham & Watkins in the firm's Boston and Chicago offices, Latham announced Monday.

Neal Reenan and Ian Bushner, who started Monday and are both based out of Boston and Chicago, joined the firm as partners in the corporate department and members of the mergers and acquisitions and private equity practices. Prior to the move, Reenan was a partner at Kirkland for nearly 17 years. Bushner was at Kirkland for six years and was a founding partner of the firm's Boston office.

A spokesperson for Kirkland and Ellis said: "We enjoyed working with Neal and Ian and we wish them well at their next law firm."

In an interview, the duo said their move to Latham was driven by the firm's industry expertise as well as its international platform.

"Clients are increasingly looking for one-stop shops," Bushner said. "We have private equity clients who work across borders and across industries, and they like to see industry expertise combined with deal professionals with an international reach. Latham does that as well as anyone."

While the duo said they expect the core of their practice to remain the same, Latham's platform will allow them to get more deals done in more industries and locations. They said their existing clients, which are national and global, will be "well served" by Latham's platform and have been very supportive of the move. While at Kirkland, Reenan and Bushner worked with Bain Capital, H.I.G. Capital, Centerbridge, Madison Dearborn Partners and other clients in the finance, communications, chemicals, health care and technology industries.

As the duo transitions into their new roles at Latham, they said they have an eye on a few trends in the M&A space.

"Our clients are faced with a complex web of regulatory demands with increasing pressure in some of the key markets, such as the U.S. and Europe, but those regulations are not always harmonized to make it easy," Reenan said. "Clients have looked to us to help us navigate that, and Latham's platform, especially its global footprint, matches really well with that."