US firm Morgan Lewis & Bockius has raided Minneapolis-based Faegre & Benson for two structured finance partners, including its co-head of asset securitisation.
Michael Macaluso and Douglas Rutherford join as finance partners in the Chicago and New York offices, respectively, of national player Morgan Lewis, where average partner profits have nudged up to the all-important $1m (£530k) mark according to its 2005 financials.
Rutherford was co-head of asset securitisation at Faegre, whilst Macaluso also served as treasury counsel to funds provider GMAC-RFC.
Their clients at Faegre included US bank Wells Fargo and the Bank of Montreal. They are expected to bring a large part of their practices with them.
In a statement, Morgan Lewis’ managing partner Philip Werner said: “Their arrival increases our combined strength in Europe, the US and Tokyo.”
Rutherford’s and Macaluso’s defection is a blow to Faegre, which is left with nine partners in its structured finance team.
