Two Los Angeles-based real estate partners at DLA Piper, including the co-chairman of the firm's California real estate practice, have returned to O'Melveny & Myers, where both attorneys practiced earlier in their legal careers.

Michael Hamilton and Timothy Evans first worked together in the late 1990s and reunited at DLA Piper in the early 2000s. The pair represent public and private REITs, large developers, large institutional investors, and many of the household names on Wall Street that have real estate investment arms.

"Our practice breaks down 50/50 between complicated real estate finance and conventional real estate and dirt law," Hamilton said.

Hamilton said that before a "friend-to-friend" conversation about moving to O'Melveny started six months ago, he was deeply entrenched at DLA Piper, where he helped lead the California real estate team, and would not have anticipated a move. But as talks moved forward, first in person and later remotely as the coronavirus crisis escalated, he and Evans recognized the opportunities the firm's strengths in adjacent practices such as tax, ERISA, and environmental work would have for their clients.

"I want to be around folks where there's just a constant striving for excellence. Our clients expect that," Hamilton said. "I'm certain, having been here before and seeing what I see now, that those needs are going to be met."

Hamilton also pointed to the culture at the firm, noting that in roughly 30 interviews, there was not a single discussion about the size of their book of business or the clients they had under their command.

"It's really about how the partner fits with the rest of the partnership and the practice fit. Michael's practice crosses almost every practice that we have at the firm," said O'Melveny firmwide corporate department co-chairman Brophy Christensen, who added he'd just gotten off a call in which a senior partner at the firm introduced Hamilton along with several other attorneys in disparate areas to a client.

Hamilton said that while the current crisis is a terrible situation for the economy and for individuals across the U.S., his clients are facing a unique set of legal needs, both on the equity investment side and the debt financing side.

"We're in the process now of working with banks and other types of lenders on restructuring over 70 loans with various different borrowers," he said.

Christensen added that demand across O'Melveny's wider corporate department stayed strong through March, noting that its practices are fairly agile and include a strong restructuring team. He also expects to keep hiring.

"We're seeing a lot of really good talent that meets our culture objectives," he said. "There's no reason from my perspective to slow down."

The pair's arrival brings the number of laterals to join O'Melveny's corporate department in the past six months to seven.

A spokesman for DLA Piper said the firm thanked the two for their contributions and wished them well.

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