DLA Piper announced today that Nina Momtazee Sitzer has joined the Real Estate practice as a partner in the Chicago office. Prior to joining DLA Piper, Sitzer was a partner at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP.

The international law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP announced that Wendy Johnson Lario, Kristine J. Feher, Micala Campbell Robinson and Kristy L. Grazioso have joined the firm’s New Jersey office in the Labor & Employment Practice. Lario and Feher join Greenberg Traurig as shareholders; Robinson and Grazioso join as of counsel. Most recently, all four were attorneys at Day Pitney LLP.

Hogan Lovells represented Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR), the largest publicly traded U.S. apartment owner, in its agreement to purchase a 26.5 percent stake in apartment owner Archstone for $1.325 billion from Bank of America Corp and Barclays.

Allen & Overy today announces the launch of an office in Istanbul to capitalise on the increasing flow of work it is undertaking in Turkey. 

Banking partner Charles Lindsay will move to Istanbul from London to head up A&O’s Turkey practice. The office will focus on English law project finance, capital markets, general lending and M&A work.

Ballard Spahr has created a Mortgage Banking Group, with the arrival of a team of four attorneys whose skill and depth of experience put them at the forefront of evolving regulatory developments in the industry, firm Chair Mark Stewart announced today.

The law firm of Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP is pleased to announce that Stephen P. Murphy has joined the Litigation Department as a partner. An experienced litigator with a focus on a comprehensive antitrust practice, Murphy will be based in Edwards Wildman’s growing office in Washington, DC.

Polsinelli Shughart welcomes attorney Spencer R. Wood to the firm as shareholder where he will practice in the Science and Technology group. He focuses his practice on intellectual property asset management, information technology and outsourcing, digital media and privacy rights. Wood joins a national team of science and technology attorneys from Chicago to Phoenix.