The Duomo di Milano in Milan, Italy

Herbert Smith Freehills has strengthened its Milan energy and infrastructure practice with the hire of two partners and four associates from Paul Hastings' Milan office.

Partners Lorenzo Parola and Francesca Morra will head HSF's energy and infrastructure practice in Milan.

Parola first joined Paul Hastings in 2013 and was most recently the chair of its EU energy and infrastructure practice. He also was a partner at Dewey & LeBoeuf for three years.

His practice advises infrastructure funds, utilities and oil giants on M&A transactions, with a focus on energy transition and energy technology matters.

Morra also joined Paul Hastings in 2013 and advises on contractual, regulatory and competition matters in the energy sector.

HSF global head of corporate Scott Cochrane said in a statement that “this is a natural expansion of our European platform and the new team will work alongside our broader European platform to further strengthen our integrated European energy team, which will benefit our clients.”

HSF's Milan office opened in 2017. The firm has grown across Europe this past year, including the hire of a five-strong dispute team in its Madrid office. However, it announced plans to close its Berlin office last month.

The firm recently revealed an 11% uptick in its profit per equity partner (PEP), marking the second year of double-digit growth in the figure at the firm.

PEP now stands at £949,000 ($1.2 million) at the Anglo-Australian outfit, which also boosted its global revenue by 4% to hit £965.7 million ($1.2 billion). It was a better year for the firm, which last year posted revenue growth of less than 1%.