White & Case additions suggest Latham could be set to live up to the brand

For a firm of its size and ambition, Latham & Watkins has remained curiously under the radar outside the US, emerging only occasionally for significant moves such as 2008′s three-pronged launch in the Middle East, before it all goes quiet again. This tendency makes this month's news that the firm is to bring in no fewer than 13 partners from White & Case across London, New York and the Middle East all the more striking.

After all, January's hire of Ashurst private equity partner Graeme Ward was Latham's first UK partner appointment since October 2008 and, in terms of profile, it was solid rather than spectacular stuff. In this context, the contrast with the hiring of the White & Case finance team – the most significant team move in the City banking market since Allen & Overy's 2002 raid on Norton Rose – is particularly sharp.

All in, the latest hires take Latham's London partnership to 56, making it one of largest UK practices built by a foreign firm. The firm is hoping that in London, where Chris Kandel (pictured) leads the four-partner bank finance team coming over from White & Case, the hires will add strength to a practice that has failed to build a reputation to match its strength in capital markets and high yield, despite the past recruitment of partners such as Dan Maze from Morgan Stanley. It's a hard move to fault, promising as it does to build links with institutions like Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs.

Similarly, the transfer of partners Craig Nethercott and Glen Ireland will provide useful bench strength in energy and project finance, a no-brainer for a firm with a commanding position in the US infrastructure market.

Meanwhile, in the Middle East, the five additional partners will give Latham the senior bodies on the ground that it has been missing since making its ambitious three-centre launch.

Despite an initially faltering local launch, it is acknowledged that Latham has made considerable ground cultivating state-backed clients in the Middle East, a performance underlined by its appointment to advise on the restructuring of Dubai World.

In total the hires make a powerful statement to the market that, after a difficult period dominated by falling profits and a global redundancy programme that last year claimed 440 jobs, one of the most upwardly mobile US legal firms is mobiling upwards again.

As one Latham partner in London comments: "We had a good year last year and those who wish to join us clearly think the future is brighter here. [The hires are] pretty spectacular and something the firm's worked hard for and considered for a long time."

Latham now also appears to be getting to the point where its collection of partners in the City is starting to reflect the power of the global brand – previously that disparity led the firm to be lauded in Europe before it had the team to deliver. It won't be seriously bothering the magic circle yet, but Latham looks on course to really get in the game.

An improving performance should also lead the US mothership to give its ambitious foreign offices a bit more freedom to get the name out there, though hopes aren't high on that front – even globe-trotting giants have to win the game on the local pitches.

White & Case on the Legal Week Wiki