Goodwin is picking up a pair of real estate finance partners from Willkie Farr & Gallagher as it looks to expand its practice, the firm announced Tuesday. Noah Bilenker works on all aspects of commercial real estate transactions with a focus on secured real estate loan transactions for debt funds and other balance sheet lenders. Christine Murphy advises on transactions involving all types of commercial real property, including office, retail, hotels, resorts, and multi-family projects. Goodwin has been making a push to expand its real estate group, particularly in the real estate finance area, as deal activity is picking up, said Diana Brummer, co-chair of the firm's practice. "Much of the expansion in real estate work has been in the direction of debt, funds and REITs in the lending space. That fits well with the rest of Goodwin’s practice and the synergies between funds, REITs and deals", she said. "This expansion of the team is perfectly timed with this uptick. Our clients anticipate their deal flow ticking up dramatically,” Brummer said to Bloomberg Law.