McGuireWoods has bulked up its City arm with the hire of Herbert Smith litigation partner Hardeep Nahal.

Nahal joined the US firm this month after 10 years as a partner in Herbert Smith's London office.

He becomes the fourth partner in McGuireWoods' City litigation practice and takes the total number of partners in the office to 22.

The news follows the announcement last week that Serious Fraud Office general counsel Vivian Robinson QC will also be joining McGuireWoods litigation practice in July.

Nahal said: "I decided to move to McGuireWoods because of its excellent reputation in financial services and litigation and because I wanted to be in an environment where I could contribute to building a practice.

"I also wanted to get back to doing international arbitration work alongside commercial litigation, particularly given my interest in the Indian corridor."

Nahal specialises in international commercial litigation at both trial and appellate level, arbitration and alternative dispute resolution, with a particular focus on commercial contract disputes and professional negligence.

McGuireWoods has made a number of hires to its City office in recent months, including a double partner hire from Squire Sanders last May when former London managing partner Andrew Visintin and corporate partner Philip Newhouse joined the firm.

McGuireWoods has 900 lawyers across 19 offices firmwide.