U.S.-headquarted Cahill Gordon & Reindel has hired two partners from Allen & Overy's London office to boost its own U.K. outpost.

Leveraged finance partner Jonathan Brownson is to join Cahill after 25 years at A&O, where he had been the firm's head of leveraged finance, the firm announced.

Brownson is joined in the move by U.S. capital markets partner Jake Keaveny, who started working at A&O in 2014 after leaving Cahill's New York office, where he had been counsel since 2006.

Both lawyers will begin working at the firm on September 21.

New York-headquartered firm Cahill first gained the right to practice English law in 2015 with the hire of litigation partner Richard Kelly from U.S. rival Shearman & Sterling. The firm had officially opened its doors in London in 2000.

Commenting on Brownson and Keaveney's hires, the firm's chairman Bill Hartnett said in a statement: "Upon the arrival of Jonathan Brownson and Jake Keaveny, our U.K. and European finance practice representing financial institutions will be on par with our market leading practice in New York.

"This is the right moment for Cahill to expand its position in London, and we anticipate that our presence in the UK and European banking and capital markets will grow tremendously with Jonathan and Jake on board."

In a statement, a spokesperson for A&O said: "We thank Jonathan Brownson and Jake Keaveny for their contributions during their time at A&O. We maintain a strong, top-tier global leveraged finance practice with more than 250 lawyers across the U.S., EMEA and Asia Pacific including 17 partners in London.

"We are one of very few firms that can field a global leveraged finance practice, combining U.S. and English law leveraged finance capability, with multiple teams in both loans and high yield."