Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy has hired a top partner from Dechert focused on structuring collateralized loan obligations, in a sign of the tight competition in the specialty structured finance practice area.

Sean Solis, 40, joined Milbank on Monday after practicing at Dechert for the past six years. While at Dechert, he said he was the most senior New York partner in the firm’s CLO practice. Milbank and Dechert both rank among the top in league tables for firms advising issuers in CLOs transactions.