Holman Fenwick Willan has bulked up its energy practice in Australia with the hire of local partner Robert Desmond and former Clifford Chance (CC) partner Christine Ferguson.

Desmond joined Holman Fenwick earlier this month as a partner in Melbourne from the local office of Australian firm Middletons.

Meanwhile, Ferguson has joined the firm in Sydney as special counsel from gold exploration and development company Chaarat Gold Holdings, where she worked as in-house counsel.

Prior to joining Chaarat she was special counsel at Baker Botts, before which she was a partner at CC in both Moscow and London.

Holman Fenwick global corporate head Alistair Mackie said: "We are very strong in the energy and mining sectors as well as on the maritime side, particularly in Australia and Asia-Pacific and we have been looking to build on that strength and grow it even further.

"Since we set up in Australia we have grown quite significantly and in light of our plans to launch in Perth in the coming months we felt that it was a good time to bring Robert and Christine on board to really cement our presence in the energy sector."

The hires take the total number of partners at the firm in Australia to eleven.

The news follows a raft of recruitments for Holman in recent months, including Elborne Mitchell City insurance and reinsurance partner Jonathan Bruce and Hogan Lovells tax partner Herve Israel in Paris this month.