Nixon Peabody has today (18 October) unveiled its long-planned City arm, handing the top 100 US law firm its first foreign outpost.

The new seven-lawyer branch will be overseen by New York-qualified financial services specialist Stavros Adamidis, with four partners to be based permanently in the UK.

The firm launches the practice with three UK-qualified partners – Paul Biggs, Simon Norris and Patrick Leece – and one UK associate, plus three US associates. The three UK partners had previously practised at the City arm of Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft before leaving the US firm last year to set up a project boutique, Trinity International.

In a highly unusual move, Biggs, Norris and Leece will remain as partners in Trinity while also being partners in Nixon Peabody International, which the firm describes as an "affiliated entity".

Adamidis said that the three would split their work between Trinity and Nixon Peabody.

Nixon Peabody said the City practice will focus primarily on leverage and project finance and corporate trust work, as well as acting as an international hub for the firm's arbitration practice.

Nixon Peabody chairman Harry Trueheart said: "More and more of our US-based investor clients, from institutional owners and banks to hedge funds, are investing in the European markets. We're also seeing more finance clients start operations in London."

He added: "We recognise the importance of London as a world financial centre. We have opened an office in London in response to our clients' needs and see this as the right time to extend our client centred approach to the London market."

The City launch is the latest in a series of expansionary moves for the Boston-based US national, which generated revenues of $392.5m (£192m) in 2006. The firm, which was previously reported to be searching for a merger with a UK practice, is ranked 78th in the latest Global 100 ranking from The American Lawyer and Legal Week.

The London outpost will add to the firm's existing 16 offices across the US, which include New York, Chicago and Washington DC. Nixon Peabody had operated a representative office in London since last year but obtained Law Society approval from 1 October to coincide with the recruitment of the three projects partners.

The move reflects the continuing push from US firms to launch in London, with San Francisco giant Heller Ehrman this year securing a high-profile UK launch after recruiting three partners from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.