Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker has moved to rebuild its City employment practice with the hire of Morrison & Foerster counsel Suzanne Horne as its UK employment head.

Horne's hire comes after Paul Hastings lost its UK employment team, led by Christopher Walter, to Covington & Burling in November.

Horne, who joined rival US firm Morrison & Foerster in April 2006, will take the partner count in Paul Hastings' London office to 18. She has a broad practice covering both contentious

and non-contentious employment matters, including business transfers, outsourcing and M&A. A large part of her work focuses on business reorganisation, redundancy projects and senior executive issues.

Walter left Paul Hastings in October alongside special counsel Chris Bracebridge and associate Helena Laughrin to rejoin Covington & Burling, where he had worked until 2005.

Paul Hastings London managing partner Philip Feder said: "Suzanne's appointment represents the renaissance of our London employment practice and we expect the practice to go from strength to strength from this point on. Suzanne has an excellent reputation in the market and we look forward to working with her to expand the practice further."

Paul Hastings' most recent lateral partner hires in the City were in January 2009 when the firm took on a seven-partner team from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, including then head of Cadwalader's London office, Michelle Duncan. Feder was appointed as London managing partner in July 2009