Nixon Peabody is moving into Raleigh, North Carolina, after hiring four partners away from K&L Gates, the firm announced Monday.

K&L Gates corporate life sciences partners John Erwin, Brian Brown, Angela Cottrell and Isabelle De Smedt are all joining Nixon Peabody as partners in its M&A and corporate transactions practice and will open the firm's new Raleigh office. The outpost is in the heart of North Carolina's Research Triangle, an area anchored by Duke University, North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“We're proud to open and be in Raleigh, North Carolina, but for us it's really about the people and, in this case, we're fortunate to have some extremely strong talent joining us who we think will immediately benefit our clients,” said Andrew Glincher, Nixon Peabody's CEO and managing partner.