US buyout house Apollo Global Management has hired former O'Melveny & Myers private equity partner Paul Loynes as its first-ever European head of legal.

Loynes, who left O'Melveny's London office in October last year having made partner in 2006, will be based in London but will report to global chief counsel John Suydam in New York. During his time with O'Melveny he spent one year on secondment to the US law firm's New York office.

Loynes joined the private equity house earlier this year and will lead the European legal team, which already has several junior lawyers.

The move is likely to be watched with interest by Apollo's roster of external advisers. In addition to working with O'Melveny, the buyout house has links with magic circle firm Clifford Chance, as well as City firms Ashurst and Macfarlanes and New York leader Sullivan & Cromwell.

One partner at a firm working with Apollo commented: "Loynes has pretty much been in-house at Apollo since his relocation to New York. He is a good hire for Apollo, which has been looking to expand its European business."

Loynes' hire makes Apollo the latest in a growing band of buyout houses to hire senior in-house lawyers in Europe. Most recently, Apax hired Goldman Sachs senior in-house counsel Simon Cresswell as its European general counsel, while Bridgepoint Capital hired Charles Barter from Travers Smith in 2008.

Bain Capital, meanwhile, kicked off a search for a European legal head several months ago.