Hogan Lovells has made a high-profile hire in its corporate team with the capture of former Allen & Overy partner Don McGown.

A partner at the magic circle firm since 1990, McGown has acted on a number of major M&A deals over the past two decades. Last year, he advised Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox on the $10bn (£6bn) spin-off of its publishing and newspaper arms.

He is probably best known for his role leading the musical programme at A&O. In 2010 he arranged a production of Mozart's The Magic Flute at Glyndebourne, making A&O the first – and so far only – law firm to perform an opera at the festival.

McGown retired from A&O last summer.

His recruitment by the transatlantic firm comes on the back of a number of partner-level arrivals in recent months, most notably that of SJ Berwin private equity specialist Ed Harris last October.

"Continuing to strengthen our excellent London corporate practice is important for us and Don's arrival will bring additional high quality board level experience and international perspective to our London team," said Hogan Lovells global corporate co-head Andrew Skipper.

"Don is a highly effective and skilled practitioner with the right skillset, market standing and collegiate approach. He is the perfect fit for our corporate practice with its global spread, in-depth industry knowledge and expertise in highly regulated sectors."

McGown added: "Hogan Lovells has a thriving global corporate practice with high profile clients across a range of sectors. I am looking forward to working with the transactional teams in continuing to provide a top quality global M&A service for clients, working in particular with the TMT and corporate restructuring practices."