Covington & Burling has added four partners to its City life sciences practice with the hire of a team from Morrison & Foerster (MoFo).

The team includes MoFo's City corporate head Paul Claydon as well as London partners Natalie Diep, James Gubbins and James Halstead.

The team's start date is still being negotiated, but they are expected to join in the next couple of weeks.

The high-profile team advises life sciences, technology and renewable energy industry clients on M&A, initial public offerings and follow-on financings, as well as private equity and venture capital transactions. They joined MoFo from Weil Gotshal & Manges in 2005.

The hire will bring partner headcount in Covington's City corporate team to 16, while the full office will consist of 22 partners.

Covington London managing partner Roger Enock said: "The team has a leading reputation in corporate transactional work in the life sciences and technology area. Our firm already has an extremely strong reputation in this area both in London and globally so they fit in very well with what we already do. It is an important further step in our strategic growth in Europe."

Commenting on the new move, Gubbins said: "We have worked across the table from Covington and have always been impressed. Their regulatory and licensing practices are a unique asset and advantage to getting deals done."

The hire comes after Covington lost a partner in London earlier this month when product liability specialist Anne Ware joined Kennedys.