Linklaters has made its first lateral hire in London since November 2007, with the magic circle firm bringing in litigation partner Christa Band from Herbert Smith.

Band – who is due to join the magic circle firm on 1 December – has a general commercial litigation practice with a focus on banking, financial services and regulatory litigation.

She has been at Herbert Smith for 16 years, becoming a partner in the firm's litigation and arbitration practice in 1996. During this time she has been involved in significant litigation matters including BCCI, Barings and Enron.

Band will take Linklaters' London litigation practice to 16 and the global practice to 41. Her hire comes shortly after Linklaters' advocacy head mark Humphries left to set up his own boutique but is unrelated to his departure.

Linklaters recruits rarely at partner level in London, with its last lateral partner hire coming in late 2007, when finance partner Brian Gray followed David Ereira from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer to Linklaters.

The firm has recruited a number of international partners recently though, last month boosting its German operations with the hire of Clifford Chance's best-known local insolvency lawyer, Kolja von Bismarck.

A statement from Linklaters con Band's hire read: "Linklaters is delighted to announce that Christa Band has accepted an offer of partnership and will be joining us as a partner in our litigation department in London. Christa will join the firm on 1 December 2009."

Herbert Smith said: "We can confirm that Christa Band, a partner in our global disputes practice, will be leaving Herbert Smith later in the year to join Linklaters. She has begun a period of gardening leave.

"Christa is a talented lawyer who has played an important role in the development of our financial services litigation team."