Hunton Andrews Kurth, the product of the latest Big Law merger to be consummated this year, is only 17 days old. But the firm has already announced its first lateral hires, picking up a pair of real estate partners in Miami and Los Angeles.

“I came the day after the merger was official,” said Miami partner Jonathan Kurry, who joined on April 3 from GrayRobinson. Hunton Andrews Kurth—a union of Virginia-based Hunton & Williams and Texas-based Andrews Kurth Kenyon—also added Los Angeles partner Jane Hinton, who was previously at Akerman.

“We are excited to have Jonathan join the Miami office, as our firm continues its growth nationally,” Juan Enjamio, managing partner of the firm's Miami office, said in a statement. “The Florida real estate market has always been important to many of our multinational clients. Jonathan is a great addition to our firm and to our growing practice in South Florida.”

The move to the newly enlarged firm offers him expanded opportunities, Kurry said. Since Hunton Andrews Kurth has an established national real estate practice but not one in Florida, the newly merged firm intends to develop that in Miami, and he will be part of that growth.

“Part of my marching orders is to grow this office,” said Kurry.

The coincidence of the merger negotiations and the firm's recruiting efforts meant he could make intensive inquiries about how the culture of Andrews Kurth and Hunton would fit together, Kurry said.

“I was able to ask those questions,” Kurry said. He already knew lawyers at Hunton and had worked with them in the past, so he “had a good feeling about Hunton's culture,” Kurry said. During his interviews,  “I was told that Andrews Kurth was a firm of similar culture,” he said.

Both firms had deep client benches and partners interested in cross selling, he said. At the firm's annual partnership meeting this month—which took place in Richmond after the April 2 finalization of the merger—legacy Andrews Kurth real estate partners from the firm's offices nationwide “were very excited to have an office in Florida,” Kurry said.

Kurry represents mainly retail and hospitality clients in real estate development, financing, leasing and sales. He also has a complimentary practice representing high net worth clients and serving as outside general counsel to investment advisers.

In Los Angeles, Hinton represents European and global banking clients in their commercial real estate and finance transactions, according to a statement issued by her new firm. Hinton's particular focus is structuring debt and equity transactions for clients related to office, construction, retail, mixed-use, hospitality, multifamily and industrial developments.