Mayer Brown announced that it has expanded its Real Estate Markets practice with the addition of Jeffrey O’Neale, who joins the firm as a partner in Charlotte. Previously, Mr. O’Neale was a partner at Alston & Bird LLP.

“Jeffrey is a well-known transactional real estate finance lawyer with extensive experience advising on a variety of secured and unsecured financial transactions,” said Brian Aronson, the leader of Mayer Brown’s Real Estate practice.” Jeffrey’s experience, combined with his substantial knowledge of the structured finance market, will enhance our core real estate capabilities, as well as the high-level services we provide to our institutional clients. We are delighted to welcome Jeffrey to our team.”

Mr. O’Neale focuses his practice on representing institutional lenders, financial institutions and servicers in a variety of secured and unsecured financial transactions, including commercial mortgage loan originations, single-family residential mortgage loan originations, loan workouts and restructurings, repurchase and warehouse facilities and credit facilities transactions. A primary focus of Mr. O’Neale’s practice is representing special servicers in loan workouts, restructurings and modifications and repurchase facility buyers in the servicing and administration of their commercial mortgage loan portfolios.

“Mayer Brown’s collaborative environment and integrated approach to real estate transactions offer a terrific opportunity to continue building my practice while working alongside a highly inclusive group of colleagues,” said Mr. O’Neale. “I am thrilled to join the team and leverage my experience representing institutional lenders, financial institutions and servicers in connection with all aspects of securitization and lending transactions.”

“Jeffrey’s stellar work ethic, dedication to client service and approach to sophisticated real estate finance transactions align perfectly with our growth strategy in Charlotte and globally,” said Keith Oberkfell, the partner-in-charge of Mayer Brown’s Charlotte office. “We are fortunate that our platform continues to attract first-rate lawyers like Jeffrey, and we are confident that our clients will benefit immediately from his experience.”