Norton Rose has added a quartet of partners to its Sydney office, including three hires from Australia rival Clayton Utz.

Funds partner John Moutsopoulos, banking partner Zein El Hassan and tax partner Paul Humphreys are all joining from 'big six' Aussie firm Clayton Utz, while Tessa Hoser, the general counsel of the Australian Government's export credit agency, is also joining as a partner.

Moutsopoulos leads Clayton Utz's financial services group and co-heads the investment funds group, while El Hassan specialises in managed funds, superannuation, life insurance, structured and retirement products and M&A. Humphreys' practice, meanwhile, focuses on tax as well as structuring and managing major projects.

Norton Rose's Australia managing partner and group deputy chief executive Don Boyd (pictured) commented: "The appointments are an important strategic fit for us as we focus on accelerating the development of our key financial institutions business in Asia-Pacific."

The new appointments, whose start dates are yet to be decided, bring the total number of lateral hires since Deacons Australia joined the Norton Rose Group to become Norton Rose Australia to 16.

Norton Rose recently overhauled management in the wake of its three-way merger with Canada's Ogilvy Renault and South Africa's Deneys Reitz, which went live on 1 June.

The combined firm added eight new positions to the Norton Rose Group supervisory board, with three new partners joining the firm's executive committee.