Herbert Smith has hired Taylor Wessing's financial services regulatory team head Clive Cunningham in a bid to target more non-contentious regulatory work.

Cunningham, who is expected to join Herbert Smith after the summer, has been a partner at Taylor Wessing since November 2006, when he joined from Merrill Lynch's in-house legal team. He previously worked at both Linklaters and KLegal.

He will be the second non-contentious regulatory partner at Herbert Smith alongside Patrick Buckingham. The pair will form part of the wider financial services regulatory group, which currently has five partners and is headed by disputes partner 
Martyn Hopper.

Herbert Smith said the hire came in response to increasing demand for transactional regulatory advice due to the growing regulatory burdens on clients.

Hopper told Legal Week: "We have a sizeable regulatory practice, but it is no secret that we are stronger on the contentious side. Clive will add more depth to our practice on the advisory side, such as compliance and management issues, as well as in the context of transactions or major regulatory practice overhauls."

Herbert Smith initially set out to boost the non-contentious side of its regulatory practice in 2007 when it hired Buckingham from Lehman Brothers, where he was European 
regulatory counsel.

Hopper said that the firm hopes to grow the practice due to the "tidal wave" of regulatory requirements facing clients.

Taylor Wessing, which has around eight partners in the UK doing regulatory work, has charged partner Jonathan Rogers with leading the team after Cunningham's departure.