Kirkland & Ellis has added two partners to its London competition practice with a double hire from Howrey, which now just has one remaining partner in the City.

Shaun Goodman, one of the last Howrey partners in London following a slew of departures in recent months, focuses on merger control, market dominance, cartel investigations, sector inquiries and private enforcement.

He recently advised Lafarge on its $2.8bn (£1.7bn) joint venture with Anglo American, and also acted for Euronext on its $20bn (£12.3bn) merger with the New York Stock Exchange.

Meanwhile, Sarah Jordan (pictured), who worked alongside Goodman at Howrey in an of counsel role, will also join Kirkland as partner. She has advised on cartels, mergers, antitrust and state aid issues, and recently acted for United Airlines on its $3.2bn (£2bn) merger with Continental Airlines. She was also part of the team which advised Anheuser-Busch on its $52bn (£31.9bn) merger with InBev in 2008.

Litigator John Evans is now the sole remaining partner in Howrey's City office. It is understood that he has received an offer to join Winston & Strawn's partnership.

Winston is currently attempting to sign deals with individual Howrey partners after merger talks between the two firms broke down last month due to conflicts.

Goodman added: "I am excited about this new opportunity at Kirkland, which has an outstanding international team of antitrust and competition attorneys, and tremendous experience handling complex matters in both litigation and transaction clearance."

Separately, Morrison & Foerster (MoFo) has recruited Howrey Brussels partner Tom McQuail for the US firm's local office. His practice focuses on chemicals, consumer electronics, energy and pharmaceuticals.

MoFo co-chair Stephen Smith said: "The level of antitrust enforcement in Europe is at a historic high. Cartel enforcement continues at a very fast pace, M&A-related antitrust work has increased, and private antitrust litigation is taking off in Europe."

"The addition of Tom will strengthen our merger control practice, an important area of growth for the firm."

The news comes just two weeks after it was announced that Shearman & Sterling had hired a five-partner antitrust team from Howrey's Brussels arm, including the co-chair of the firm's antitrust practice, Trevor Soames.