Steven Khadavi, Troutman Sanders.

A corporate partner who led Dorsey & Whitney's New York office for the past seven years has moved to Troutman Sanders, saying his client list and Troutman's breadth of expertise will fit together well.

Steven Khadavi, managing partner of Dorsey's New York office since 2012, left the firm Monday and started Tuesday as a partner at Troutman, an Atlanta-based firm. While he doesn't have a management role at his new firm, he said he looks forward to seeing what services he can offer its clients and how Troutman can service his longtime clients.

“Their focus, in terms of practice groups and industry groups, works very well with my client base,” he said. “Everyone has been extremely welcoming and cooperative and already looking for ways to collaborate with me both in terms of my clients and firm clients [to] see what forms of synergy there are.”

While Khadavi declined to specify which clients would move with him and which would stay with Dorsey, he is listed in recent Securities and Exchange Commissions filings for the electricity wholesaler Tri-State Generation Transmission Association Inc., the agricultural cooperative CHS Inc., homebuilder Cadus Corp., commercial property company Voltari Corp. and telecommunications firm Otelco Inc.

Generally, Khadavi said, he works for public and private companies, boards of directors and their committees and financial institutions, with a focus on the telecommunications, media, technology, consumer products, retail, financial services, pharmaceutical and health care industries. Troutman said in an announcement that his areas of “particular focus” are corporate governance, capital markets and mergers and acquisitions.

After 13 years at Dorsey, Khadavi said he learned about the opportunity to move from Craig Kline, a former colleague who is now managing partner of Troutman's New York office. According to Troutman, he is the seventh lateral hire in a little over a year at its New York office.

He expressed optimism about Troutman's future in New York and beyond. “They want to continue to add talent to a number of offices,” he said.