Reed Smith has recruited a quartet of corporate partners from DLA Piper for its offices on both coasts of the US, reports the Am Law Daily.

The group of partners is led by capital markets and M&A lawyer Yvan-Claude Pierre, who joined DLA three years ago from Fulbright & Jaworski.

Pierre joined Reed Smith's New York office last week along with corporate partners William Haddad and Daniel Goldberg, while the fourth partner, Garth Osterman, has joined Reed Smith's San Francisco office.

Osterman, who made partner at Reed Smith in 2006, joined DLA in June 2007. Haddad and Goldberg had both been at DLA since 2000, making partner in 2004 and 2005 respectively.

Pierre said that a key factor in his decision to join the firm was the fact that Reed Smith has launched three offices in Asia since 2007. Pierre said he believes that Reed Smith tops DLA in its commitment to expanding its capital markets and M&A work internationally.

Pierre declined to reveal the names of any clients who may join the four new hires at Reed Smith, although the four new partners represent public and private companies, investment banks, financial institutions, venture capital firms, and private equity sponsors on a range of securities matters, primarily international listings and domestic M&A.

For DLA, the departures mark a rare loss of partners amid a long run of recent recruitment, including the hire of three lawyers in Brisbane in July, the addition of two partners apiece in New York and Houston in June, a new office opening in Delaware in March, and a ten-lawyer expansion in Sacramento in April.

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