Another Allen & Overy London partner has left to join a US competitor after a series of similar departures last year.
Sanjeev Dhuna, leveraged finance specialist at A&O, has left the firm to join Shearman & Sterling’s London base.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Dhuna has been a partner at A&O since 2005, having joined as an associate a decade earlier.
According to his A&O profile, he also leads the firm’s direct lending practice.
He joins Shearman as co-head of the finance practice in Europe, with partner Ward McKimm, who joined in 2018 from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
“Sanjeev’s extensive leveraged finance experience and direct lending expertise complements our global leveraged finance offering, strengthens our English law capabilities and continues our strong growth momentum,” said David Beveridge, senior partner at Shearman.
“Sanjeev is an outstanding leveraged finance lawyer. His hiring is part of our ongoing strategic priority to expand our core competencies in key geographies and strengthen our position as a global elite company.”
Dhuna’s exit from A&O is a reminder of the purchasing power of a US company in London when it comes to hiring elite British talent.
In 2020, A&O lost three partners in its leveraged finance and capital markets team in London to US firm Cahill, Gordon and Reindel.
The move by leveraged finance partner duo Jonathan Brownson and Joydeep Choudhuri and US capital markets partner Jake Keaveny dealt a serious blow to A&O’s London office.
An A&O spokesman said in a statement: “Sanjeev Dhuna has decided to leave Allen & Overy. We would like to thank him for the contribution he made during his time at Allen & Overy. We maintain a strong, world-class global leveraged finance practice with more than 250 lawyers across the US, EMEA and Asia Pacific, including 16 partners and over 40 associates in London. We are one of the few companies that can build a global leveraged finance practice that combines US and English leveraged finance capabilities with multiple teams across both credit and high yield.”
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