Clyde & Co has continued its expansion drive with a trio of hires for its City base.

The firm has boosted its structured finance team with the hire of Chris Sykes from Osborne Clarke, while Robert Franklin joins from legacy Denton Wilde Sapte as a senior consultant. Both were partners at their previous firms.

Meanwhile, Nigel Taylor has also joined the firm as a partner in its global transport infrastructure team. He has spent the last 19 years at Field Fisher Waterhouse, including nine as a partner.

The new recruits take the number of firmwide lateral hires so far this year to 24, including nine in the City.

Earlier this year Clydes took on Shadbolt's London-based construction and infrastructure projects and disputes groups as well as its UK corporate practice and Paris office, adding eight laterals. The hires followed merger talks between the two firms in November 2009 which ultimately did not come to fruition.

Clydes head of construction John Morris said: "We have been looking to expand our finance practice in the projects and property area, which follows the arrival of Shadbolt's projects team in February. Our focus remains on the emerging markets and, in particular, expanding our finance offering in the Middle East."

Chief executive Peter Hasson added: "With the downturn, many high-quality transactional lawyers took a hard look at all of the options and this gave us the opportunity to expand our transactional practice in our core sectors. These laterals all hold a great deal of international experience in emerging markets where we're seeing a continuing increase in investment and work."