MoFo poach on DLA Piper agency finance team to expand its Washington office

MoFo poach on DLA Piper agency finance team to expand its Washington office

New hires are aimed at bolstering the firm's cross-border finance capabilities

Morrison & Foerster (MoFo), the US-based international law firm, has gained immensely by hiring a team of agency finance lawyers from DLA Piper. The new hires are aimed at bolstering the firm's cross-border finance capabilities and strengthen its Washington DC office.

Partners Greg Smith and Ann Lilienthal, who join the firm's finance department, lead the team that moved over from the British firm DLA Piper. Other members of the team include counsel Amala Nath and associate Christopher Pearson.

Their practice focuses on advising development finance institutions, multilateral agencies, regional development banks and export credit agencies on transactional matters across emerging markets, notably Latin America, Central and South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Those transactions include the funding of infrastructure and other development projects in sectors such as energy, housing, education, mining, petrochemicals, telecoms and transportation, among others.

"Greg and Ann are widely regarded as global leaders in finance. They provide elite service to agency and other lending institutions on some of the most complex and sophisticated projects around the globe. Adding Greg and Ann's team presents tremendous opportunities for MoFo, particularly in connection with our existing energy and infrastructure projects platforms in the US, Asia, and Latin America," Jennifer Marines, co-chair of MoFo's finance department, said.

Smith's was US co-chair of DLA Piper's projects and infrastructure team and US chair of agency finance. Lilienthal has worked together with Smith for more than eight years in the agency finance space.

"I have always been impressed by the professionalism, collegiality and ability to navigate complex, cross-border projects of the MoFo attorneys I have known. MoFo has long been regarded as a firm of exceptional sophistication, and a leader in the international transactional space in particular, and as a result it provides a perfect home for the continued growth of our group and an ideal place for us to continue serving the agency lender community," Greg Smith said.