Field Fisher Waterhouse has made its first partner hire of 2010, bringing in a former Morgan Lewis & Bockius partner for its employment practice.

Simeon Spencer joins the UK firm after a short stint with employment specialists Seyfarth Shaw in New York, where he was a partner. Before joining Seyfarth towards the end of last year, Spencer headed the European employment practice at Morgan Lewis. Prior to this he worked at Morrison & Foerster.

Spencer, who will be based in Field Fisher's London office, focuses on European employment matters for a broad range of clients, with a particular emphasis on the technology sector.

His hire brings the firm's London and Manchester employment team up to eight partners and around 20 other fee earners. The last partner level hire into the practice was that of Jim Wright in Manchester, who moved over from Irwin Mitchell in September last year.

Employment and pensions head Richard Kenyon told Legal Week: "We are interested in developing relationships with US and international clients that need European advice, building particularly on our expertise in the technology and intellectual property sectors and utilising our European offices – Simeon fits that model perfectly."