Eversheds has moved to bolster its European competition practice with the hire of a partner in Italy.

The firm has brought in Gennaro D'Andria as a partner to head the European Union (EU) and competition practice. D'Andria, who joined late last month, was previously an associate at Clifford Chance.

The partner hire is the second the firm has made for its European competition practice in the last few months, with the firm positioning itself for a predicted increase in work.

Eversheds' firm-wide head of EU and competition, Ros Kellaway, said: "We will now be ideally placed to provide dawn raid cover across the EU, and to offer advice in all aspects of EU and national competition law."

D'Andria's hire follows that of Mogens Vind, previously a partner with Kromann Reumert, who joined as partner to head Eversheds' Copenhagen-based competition and regulatory team in November 2007.

Vind is responsible for building the firm's Copenhagen competition practice and compliance capabilities, with a particular focus on energy and financial compliance.

The firm also increased its Swedish competition practice towards the end of last year, bringing in Eva Kullberg-Tideman as an associate in its Stockholm office. Kullberg-Tideman was previously a senior case and inspection officer at the Swedish Competition Authority.