A trio of US firms have bolstered their London offerings with internal promotions and lateral hires.

Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham and Howrey have both made lateral hires while Dorsey & Whitney announced this week that it has made up four partners in London.

Howrey has made two hires this week, bringing in dispute resolution senior associate Kit Jarvis from Lovells as a partner and ex-Ashurst litigation partner John Evans also as a partner.

The appointments take Howrey to nine partners in London and come less than six months after the firm lost renowned London intellectual property head Isabel Davies to CMS Cameron McKenna.

Kirkpatrick has hired Speechly Bircham employment partner Noel Deans, a solicitor and barrister who advises on contentious and non-contentious employment issues.

Meanwhile, litigators Jean-Pierre Douglas-Henry, Liesl Fichardt and Mitchell Moss, as well as corporate lawyer Alex Paterson, are set to join Dorsey's partnership on 1 January, 2007.

Dorsey has also promoted London litigation partner Nick Burkill to the equity – one of only two promotions to the equity firm-wide. The promotions take Dorsey's London office to 40 lawyers, including 16 partners.

The news from the three firms comes as many US firms are seeking to increase their London partnerships at the junior end and invest in new areas, rather than just bringing in big-name laterals.

Kirkpatrick London administrative partner Tony Griffiths commented: "We have been searching for an employment partner with the right level of experience for some time."

Dorsey's London managing partner, Paul Klaas, said: "We made up more new partners in London this year than any other Dorsey office. We had an excellent group of lawyers to consider; we are growing, we are profitable and we are confident."

Last week Simpson Thacher & Bartlett also added to its London office with two partner promotions out of a firmwide total of 13. Real estate lawyer Farhad Karim and corporate lawyer Nicholas Shaw will join as partners on 1 January.