Herbert Smith has bolstered its pensions practice with the high-profile hire of Dan Schaffer from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

Schaffer will join the UK top 10 firm next month (8 March) as a partner in the City and will work closely with the three-partner pensions team led by Ian Gault, after 12 years as a partner at Freshfields.

Schaffer covers both contentious and non-contentious pensions law with a focus on corporate advisory and transactional work. He also advises scheme trustees. He has chaired the Association of Pension Lawyers' International Committee and is currently a member of the association's legislative and parliamentary committee.

His hire will significantly bolster the group whose clients include PricewaterhouseCoopers and Time Warner.

Gault commented: "As one of the City's preeminent pensions specialists, Dan's recruitment marks a significant step change in the development of our practice. He is a proven rainmaker with commercial and technical expertise of the highest order and a strong focus on anticipated growth areas such as pensions litigation that mirror our own."

The hire follows two other significant City partner appointments for Herbert Smith this year.

The firm bulked up its private equity practice with the hire of James MacArthur from Kirkland & Ellis earlier this month, while former Lloyds Banking Group head of group regulatory Jenny Stainsby is set to join the firm's City office in May, where she will be a partner in the financial services regulatory and banking litigation teams.