Angelo Ciavarella.

Angelo Ciavarella, a corporate transactions tax partner, has left Katten Muchin Rosenman and rejoined his old firm Reed Smith, saying the growth of the corporate group attracted him.

Ciavarella helps private equity funds and other clients implement tax-efficient strategies on their deals, his firm said. He'd been a partner at Reed Smith until 2016, when he moved to Katten. But since then, he said, he remained friendly with Reed Smith's corporate leader James Tandler, and the opportunity to move back eventually arose.

"Over time, I think it became apparent that he would be looking for somebody" to help clients with tax issues, Ciavarella said. "The firm's transactional corporate and tax practice has grown significantly since I left. That made an exciting proposition for me."

Tandler said in a statement that Ciavarella's area of focus was the middle market, which he called "the firm's sweet spot." Ciavarella said most of the transactions he worked on were in the $150 million to $350 million range, but they spanned from $25 million to $1 billion.

Reed Smith said Ciavarella helps structure U.S. and cross-border deals in the corporate, private equity and real estate sectors, among others, with M&A deals, joint ventures, restructurings and other complex transactions.

The move by Ciavarella, who returned to Reed Smith on Feb. 24, nearly coincided with the addition of another corporate partner at the firm in Dallas. Nigel Stark, who helps clients with technology transactions and outsourcing, recently joined the firm's office there from K&L Gates, the firm said.

Reed Smith is one of several Pennsylvania-founded firms to have been growing around the globe. Its head count grew about 3.8% last year as revenue grew more than 6%, The American Lawyer reported Thursday, aided by a focus on core sectors including shipping and transportation, financial services, life sciences and health, energy and natural resources, and media and entertainment

Katten, for its part, has also had some laterals join lately, including Mitchel Pahl, who joined its employee benefits and executive compensation practice, and Trisha Sircar, an intellectual property lawyer who joined its privacy, data and cybersecurity practice. Last year, Law.com reported that Katten was closing its small offices in Austin and the San Francisco Bay Area, with the departure of nine environmental and workplace safety partners from four cities.

Representatives for Katten didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.