Dewey & LeBoeuf has struck an expansive note for the New Year after announcing the hire of seven high-profile lawyers from firms including Dechert, Howrey and Sullivan & Cromwell, writes the Am Law Daily.

The hires include Howrey intellectual property litigation partners Henry Bunsow, Denise Mory and Brian Smith, who will join Dewey's San Francisco office, and Craig Allison, a patent litigation partner from Dechert, who will join Dewey's Silicon Valley office.

Additionally, Baker & McKenzie oil and gas partners Karl Hopkins and Steven Otillar will join Dewey's Houston office, while Sullivan & Cromwell international arbitration partner James Carter is moving to the firm's New York base.

The laterals, all announced on Tuesday (18 January), underscore Dewey's strategic hiring process of targeting certain areas and sectors as a way of strengthening the firm globally.

"There are three or four things we think make us unique," said Jeffrey Kessler, chairman of the firm's global litigation department. "We have a major presence in the largest financial sectors, we make sure we have a strategic presence in the most important jurisdictions worldwide, we have a major emphasis on technology from a global side, and we have a balance between litigation and corporate, as well as a sector emphasis on key areas like energy, green issues, and financial issues relating to insurance.

"There are a lot of firms that have a few of those pieces, but it's hard to find another firm that has all those pieces."

Dewey chairman Steven Davis (pictured) said the moves have been in the works for some time and are consistent with the firm's growth strategy. "Ever since the [Dewey Ballentine/LeBoeuf Lamb] merger, we've had our programme in place to build up key practice areas with the highest quality people we can find," commented Davis. He points to energy as one of those key practice areas.

Kessler said that Dewey was still looking for external hires, adding: "I don't think this will be the last announcement we make during this first quarter. We hope to announce comparable additions in other areas and we're very excited about the quality of people that want to come to our firm."

According to the latest Am Law 100 financial data, Dewey took in gross revenue of $914m (£571m) in 2009, with profits per partner standing at $1.6m (£1m).

The Am Law Daily is a US affiliate title of Legal Week.