Watson Farley & Williams has bulked up its London asset finance practice with a team hire from Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) led by City partner Nicola Davies.

Davies is set to join the firm along with associate director Samantha Yardley, who will join Watson Farley as a partner.

Davies and Yardley are also bringing a senior associate and paralegal from BLP to the firm, with the team likely to start this month, although the exact date is yet to be confirmed.

The hires take the number of partners in Watson Farley's asset finance practice to 19 in London.

Watson Farley managing partner Michael Greville said: "We have one of the largest asset finance teams in London already, but this was an opportunistic move that we felt would benefit our group further.

"Both Nicola and Samantha have practices that fit well with other things we are doing, and there's always room for us to bring in high quality practitioners, particularly in our core areas."

Davies has been a partner at BLP since 1987 and specialises in the shipping, aviation and energy sectors, while Yardley focuses on the small and middle-ticket asset finance market acting for lessors, brokers and lessees on financing structures.

The news follows Watson Farley's hire of BLP City finance partner Andrew Baird, who joined the firm in February this year.