Clayton Utz has hired King & Wood Mallesons partner Andrew Norman in Melbourne in a move aimed at bolstering its real estate practice.

Norman, who was with Mallesons for 22 years, will join Clayton Utz on 1 January next year, bringing the total number of partners in the property group to nine.

His departure is the first for King & Wood Mallesons since the firm announced its tie-up with SJ Berwin last month, although the move is understood to be unrelated. For Clayton Utz, the hire is aimed at strengthening its construction and property capability in the face of a slowdown in corporate and M&A work. 

Major deals Norman has worked on include the leasing and development of National Australia Bank's Commercial office headquarters in Docklands, Melbourne, and the sale of GE Real Estate's Australian property portfolio to Mirvac, valued at over $1.4bn (£822m).

"We have been looking to boost our profile in that area," said chief executive partner, Darryl McDonough. "We already have a strong real estate practice in Sydney, but in Melbourne there's just one partner. We need to have the necessary capability and Andrew has a very, very strong profile in Sydney and Melbourne due to the deals he's been involved in.

"Some have seen real estate as a bit of a saviour recently. There have been some been some good transactions in real estate and we are expecting more to come."

Clayton Utz is one of two 'big six' law firms in Australia, alongside Minter Ellison, which remains independent.

The firm has made two other partner hires in Sydney this month with a view to increasing its headcount in more profitable practices – Allen & Overy capital markets partner Sonia Goumenis and in-house lawyer David Ephraums, who joined as a partner from Australian financial services company AMP

Goumenis was hired in a bid to meet what the firm referred to as "a growing demand for specialist services in the securitisation area", while Ephraums was seen as a strategic hire in the firm's banking and finance practice, given his experience in superannuation which has been subject to regulatory changes.

Going forward, Clayton Utz is keen to remain independent and to strengthen its capabilities in the domestic market, where it has eight offices. Outside of Australia, it has just one Asia base in Hong Kong.

For more, see Aussie leaders scale back in Sydney as tough market pushes firms to rethink strategies.