Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker has hired a four-lawyer projects team from Ashurst in a boost for the US firm's Paris office.

Pascal Cuche and Marc Lordonnois join Paul Hastings as partners alongside associates Karine Debaecker and Mounir Letayf. All four were previously associates at the top 10 City firm.

The team specialises in public law and infrastructure project transactions, focusing in particular on public-private partnerships (PPP). Their clients include sponsors, contractors, lenders, investment funds and public authorities.

Commenting on the hires, Paul Hastings European projects chief Jonathan Simpson, who is based in London, said: "We are delighted that one of Paris' leading PPP teams is joining us in Paris.

"Not only will this strengthen and greatly enhance our domestic French PPP practice; in addition it will immediately boost our cross-border PPP practice, particularly in Central & Eastern Europe [and] also in the US and Asia, where French contractors are becoming increasingly more active."

Paul Hastings global projects chief John Hawkins added: "The burgeoning PPP sector in France and Europe requires lawyers with a great depth of infrastructure finance expertise. We continue to make strategic acquisitions of leading practitioners to our projects practice in the US, Asia and Europe."