Shearman & Sterling's Brussels office has picked up a number of clients from defunct firm Howrey, including Nestle and Hilton.

The US law firm, which hired a five-partner competition team led by the co-head of Howrey's global antitrust practice, Trevor Soames (pictured), in February, is advising on a number of matters for the team's former Howrey clients.

The team has brought over the majority of its clients, including wireless technology company Qualcomm, Nestle, Hilton and the International Air Transport Association.

In addition, Shearman has picked up a number of other new mandates – including advising NASDAQ OMX on its $11.3bn (£6.8bn) bid for NYSE Euronext.

Soames joined Shearman alongside former Howrey partners Stephen Mavroghenis, Goetz Drauz, Geert Goeteyn and Miguel Rato and a team of around 12 associates.

The hires significantly bolstered Shearman's presence in Brussels, which previously had only one permanent partner and another splitting his time between London and Brussels.

Soames said: "What happened at Howrey was very sad from both a personal and professional perspective. But Shearman has provided us all with a new start on a famous and well-regarded international platform."

Brussels managing partner Hans Jurgen Meyer-Lindemann added: "The perception that we didn't have a team before was wrong; we had a small team working for some great clients, but what we didn't have was the mass that we needed. This team has given us more depth."

Soames, who at the time of his departure was also Brussels' head at Howrey, resigned in January, with Shearman hiring the team towards the end of February – weeks before Howrey partners voted to dissolve the firm on 9 March.