US real estate investment platform Amherst Group has hired Peter Campbell as general counsel, replacing Gabriel Steffens in the role.

Campbell joins from Australian multinational construction and real estate group Lendlease, where he was GC for its Americas business. At Amherst, he will be responsible for the company’s legal and compliance functions, advising on matters related to capital raising, investor relations, acquisitions and investment and property management.

Austin, Texas-based Amherst is real estate investment, development and operating platform with $18.6bn of assets under management.

Sean Dobson, chairman and CEO of Amherst, said: “Peter’s extensive real estate expertise and track record of providing sound counsel on a range of complex legal and strategic issues make him an ideal fit for our leadership team and exactly the person we want in the room when making critical decisions as a firm.

“We look forward to Peter’s contributions to Amherst as we continue to build a best-in-class legal function that is critical to providing value for the investors, residents and communities we serve.”

Campbell arrives after six years at Lendlease, which he originally joined as deputy GC for its property unit. Before that he spent a year as GC at The Continuum Company and five years at Lehman Brothers Holdings as GC for its commercial real estate group.

Prior to his in-house career Campbell spent four years as an associate at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom in its real estate group and four years at Cooley and the firm it merged with in 2006, Kronish Lieb Weiner & Hellman.

Campbell said: “I’m excited for the chance to work alongside Sean and the Amherst leadership team as the firm continues to build an institutional-quality platform at the intersection of real estate and the global capital markets. I look forward to contributing my experience to all areas of the business from investing and development to operations to ensure the team has a strong foundation to build upon and to enable future growth.”

Steffens, meantime, left the company this year, according to his LinkedIn profile. He spent two years at Amherst, having joined from Nuveen Real Estate where he was global head of legal. Prior to that he worked in private practice at O’Melveny & Myers and Sullivan & Cromwell.