Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has added another partner to its fast-growing US litigation practice with a lateral hire from Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, reports The Am Law Daily.

Timothy Harkness, who joined Freshfields' 90-lawyer New York office today (17 May), is the firm's eighth US litigation partner hire in the past two years.

The team – which now comprises 12 partners across the New York and Washington DC offices and is currently representing clients in cases with claims totalling $50bn (£31bn) – has also seen 30 associates join from other firms during that period.

US regional managing partner Julian Pritchard said: "There are two strands to this hire, one is that it represents further significant growth in the civil litigation part of our practice, the second is that it builds on our unique multi-jurisdictional disputes capability, both of which fit in well with our overall strategy.

"This also gives us a suitable balance between our white collar, civil litigation and arbitration capabilities for the current stage of our development."

"You can't sit still and be competitive – you need to continue to grow," added Freshfields' financial institutions litigation head Aaron Marcu, who co-founded the firm's US litigation practice in 2009. "Two years ago, we had no traditional US litigation practice. We've now got a dozen partners and 40 associates doing white-collar and regulatory investigations work, financial insitution and other civil securities litigation, and international arbitration. Those three legs of the stool give us a great foundation to build on."

Harkness's role at Freshfields will include developing the firm's five-partner civil litigation practice, focusing on securities litigation and professional liability. While at Kramer, he represented Deloitte in the high profile Parmalat securities litigation.

Marcu says that the firm is "actively looking" to expand its US litigation group further, including potentially developing new practice lines outside white collar crime, securities litigation and arbitration.

At Freshfields Harkness will be reunited with his former Kramer colleague Marshall Fishman, who moved to the firm last March alongside Vinson & Elkins financial litigation partner Walter Stuart and Dewey & LeBoeuf white collar criminal defence and investigations co-chair Timothy Coleman.

The Am Law Daily is a US affiliate title of Legal Week.