Squire Sanders said it appointed partner Mark Thomas, who joins the firm’s Financial Services Practice Group in London from Addleshaw Goddard, where he was head of Structured Finance. Thomas represents the fifth senior hire to join Squire Sanders’ growing financial services practice in the past ten months. Recent additions to the firm’s global team have added further depth in aviation finance, project finance, asset-based lending, equipment finance and capital markets, in London, Miami, Sydney and Tokyo.

Thomas is known for his expertise in structured finance and capital markets. His practice is focused on advising on developing structured loan products, loan portfolio sales and acquisitions, restructuring (particularly relating to ABS and real estate finance transactions) and the provision of finance to banks and non-bank financial institutions, as well as other types of borrower.

Thomas said, “Squire Sanders has stood out for some time as a firm fully committed to investing in its genuinely global financial services practice and delivering consistently excellent client service across its network. I’m really pleased to be joining a team which has the kind of banking, finance and capital markets expertise around the world that I will be able to leverage on behalf of clients.”

Jim Barresi, partner and global leader of the Financial Services Practice Group, commented: “Mark’s skills and experience are increasingly important to minimizing the cost of capital in the wake of regulatory reform. His expertise complements our existing practice in asset-based lending and asset finance, capital markets and banking regulation and will expand our ability to provide in Europe some of the services we provide clients in the U.S.”

Andrew Knight, partner and Head of Europe for the Financial Services Practice Group, added: “Mark is a brilliant structured finance lawyer, whose reputation precedes him. We’re delighted to welcome him to our team, where his considerable skills are a great fit with our growing array of specialisms in bank and non-bank lending, capital markets and project finance, as well as our market-leading asset-based lending (ABL) practice. For example, as larger, more complex ABL transactions increasingly feature securitization-lite and other elements of structured finance, Mark’s experience will enhance our services to the ABL sector around the world. And of course Mark will play an important role in our dynamic global capital markets team, which with our recent appointment of Matt Doughty alongside Tom Cerdan continues to grow.”