06 Jan 2026
Latham & Watkins Strengthens London Practice with Three Partners in Real Estate and Structured Finance
"Latham & Watkins hires David Oppenheimer, David Varne and Lucy Oddy into its London office to bolster its real estate finance and structured finance practice."
David Oppenheimer is joining Latham & Watkins as a partner in the firm’s real estate finance practice. He is widely regarded as one of the top real estate finance practitioners in the market and advises real estate lenders, private equity funds and other investors across Europe on transactions spanning the full spectrum of real estate products. He has worked closely on CMBS and back-leverage transactions. Oppenheimer joins from A&O Shearman. He received his LLB from the University of Leeds and completed his LPC at Nottingham Law School.
David Varne is joining Latham & Watkins as a partner in the firm’s real estate finance practice. Varne advises real estate lenders, private equity funds and other investors across Europe on complex, cross-border real estate finance transactions, including work on CMBS and back-leverage matters alongside his new colleagues. He joins from A&O Shearman. Varne received a BA/LLB from the University of Western Australia and his GDL from the College of Law Western Australia.
Lucy Oddy is joining Latham & Watkins’ structured finance practice as a partner. A market-leading structured finance practitioner with more than 20 years’ experience, she advises financial institutions, funds, private equity firms and corporates on a broad range of asset-backed finance transactions, with a particular focus on the real estate sector. Oddy also advises sellers and buyers on cross-border debt portfolio disposals and related financings across European jurisdictions and has worked closely with Oppenheimer and Varne on significant CMBS issuances. She rejoins Latham & Watkins from A&O Shearman. Oddy received a BA from the University of Oxford and completed her LPC at Nottingham Law School.