Whether you speak to partners in London or New York the message coming out of Linklaters is now clear: "New York is our number one priority."

Of course, the office has been on Linklaters' agenda for years, but insiders concede the challenges of NY recruitment and the nagging hope that the firm could secure a decent Manhattan merger, which held sway until two or three years ago, has severely slowed progress. But with the transfer of two senior London partners to Wall Street in recent weeks, the firm has put its cards on the table.

Obviously, making any kind of serious inroads into the ultra-competitive US market will be expensive, tough and time-consuming but the claim is that the firm is finally ready to make that mental jump. Certainly, the appointment of finance chief John Tucker as overall head of the Americas is significant in itself. Tucker is one of the architects of the five-year rise of Linklaters' banking team and was a serious contender in the recent senior partner election – as such he carries real clout.

However, perhaps the transfer of corporate partner Nick Rees to take on the co-managing partner role of New York says more about Silk Street's strategy. Though there are higher-profile (not to mention more egotistical) corporate partners around, those who know him cite Rees as the kind of serious operator that top law firms draft in when they need to get results.

Rees has taken management roles in both Hong Kong and Russia and has close ties with US clients like Citi and Dow Chemical, as well as those with heavy US presences such as HSBC. He is also well-regarded for his client relationship and marketing skills and these will make up a significant part of his role. As one Freshfields M&A veteran comments: "You wouldn't move someone like Nick if you weren't serious."

The mission that Rees faces is considerable. Linklaters is hardly small in the US, with some 130 lawyers. But there is no doubt about the gaping hole in its US M&A practice – not helped by last year's departure of US corporate head Mark Palmer to Bracewell & Giuliani.

Joining the dots

Rees sets out his objectives as two-fold: making sure Linklaters' international clients trust New York to take on their US work and convincing US clients that Linklaters is the right firm to do their cross-border work. This theme comes up a lot when Linklaters partners discuss New York. It is acknowledged that lack of integration has been an issue, with too few key institutional clients in the UK also using the firm stateside. A dramatic upturn in international secondments and a sustained cross-selling drive are top of the agenda.

Once integration gets underway, the firm will have to think seriously again about US corporate recruitment. In common, with most London rivals, Linklaters is rightly now far more focused on hiring up-and-coming partners than the 800lb gorillas that magic circle firms used to covet. The firm will be greatly aided in this by the rising stock of magic circle firms in Manhattan, thanks to surging profits and the stabilisation of Clifford Chance's once-chaotic New York office, which did massive damage to the collective reputation of Brits on Wall Street.

It will be very tough but they have got the resources, and apparently now the will, to pull it off. As one partner comments: "If we are in a practice area, we are there to be top of the market, so we want to go head-to-head with the top US firms."