CMS Cameron McKenna is set to bolster its City telecoms team with the hire of a lawyer from the London office of Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy.

The City law firm has hired telecoms lawyer Joanne Wheeler from Milbank, where she was a senior associate, to lead the satellite capacity within its telecoms department.

Wheeler specialises in regulatory advice and commercial contracts in the space, satellite and communications sectors and she has represented operators, manufacturers, communications companies and financial institutions.

Her past experience includes advising on regulatory issues over sending satellites into space and she has also advised on negotiating contracts for astronauts. Her main clients include the European Space Agency and satellite operators Solaris Mobile and Inmarsat.

Camerons' telecoms, media and technology (TMT) sector group head Isabel Davies said: "Her expertise in the satellite field will complement the thriving telecoms practice led by Chris Watson. We are very pleased Joanne will be joining us and we will be continuing to build our TMT capabilities."

Wheeler said: "I have a huge amount of respect for Camerons' telecoms and litigation practices. I am impressed with the progress that the firm's communications practice has made in recent years."

Wheeler's hire brings Camerons' TMT group to 63 partners plus 89 solicitors across the UK and continental Europe.

Last year, Camerons' telecoms team won a first-time appointment to BT's panel, being chosen alongside regular advisers Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Bird & Bird.

CMS Cameron McKenna on the Legal Week Wiki