Allen & Overy (A&O) has bolstered its US capital markets practice with the hire of a top-rated securitisation partner from Bingham McCutchen.

Ed de Sear has joined the firm's New York international capital markets practice in a lateral move from Boston-based Bingham.

He was previously a partner with US firm McKee Nelson, which Bingham acquired last year after the smaller firm suffered a number of significant partner departures when a group left to set up a US structured finance outfit for Ashurst.

De Sear has practised capital markets and structured finance law for around 30 years and advised on some of the earliest asset-backed securities transactions. Before joining McKee in 2003, he headed the structured finance practice at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe.

Commenting on the hire, A&O's New York office managing partner Kevin O'Shea said: "The addition of a market expert like Ed brings a unique wealth of creativity, experience and reputation to this practice and provides A&O the unique opportunity to further penetrate the US securitisation market."

The hire comes after A&O lost a finance partner in New York earlier this year when capital markets partner Josh Cohn joined Mayer Brown to help launch a global derivatives and structured products practice in February.