Jonathan Birks joined Kirkland & Ellis International’s London office as a partner in the Debt Finance Practice group. Birks focuses his practice on UK and pan-European real estate finance transactions.

Birks joined from the London office of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where he was a partner and advised a wide range of clients including private equity houses, property investors, listed property companies, sovereign wealth funds, mezzanine debt funds, noteholder groups and special situations teams.

“Jonny is widely considered to be one of the leading attorneys in the European real estate finance market,” said Jeffrey C. Hammes, chairman of Kirkland’s Global Management Executive Committee. “His talent and significant sponsor side experience will further strengthen our leading European finance platform. We look forward to welcoming him to the firm.”

“We are delighted that Jonny will be joining Kirkland,” said Matthew Elliott, a partner in the firm’s London private equity group. “He will add significant additional depth to our debt capabilities in real estate private equity, which has grown to become a core practice area of the London office in the past few years.”