Allen & Overy (A&O) has relocated senior City capital markets partner Boyan Wells to Washington DC in a bid to help get the newly-launched office off the ground.

Wells, who is one of the most prominent partners in A&O's capital markets practice and sits on the firm's management board, moved to Washington on 14 November and is set to stay there for an initial period of up to six months.

The firm said his relocation demonstrated its strong commitment to the new office, which opened in July this year with a team hire from O'Melveny & Myers.

Wells , who will be helping with integration as well as recruitment, said key target areas for growth were intellectual property, anti-bribery and corruption and antitrust in the short term. In the longer term the firm also wants to build a presence in securities enforcement, banking, derivatives, project finance and international arbitration.

A&O currently has around 13 lawyers in Washington DC, including financial services regulatory partner Bill Satchell who joined last month from O'Melveny & Myers and O'Melveny partner trio Barbara Stettner, Chris Salter and Charles Borden who launched the office. US banking chief David Slade relocated from A&O's 175-lawyer New York office in July to lead the practice.

Wells said: "We were looking to send someone out who could help with general integration of the office. We have hired four new partners, who are great people but don't know their way around the firm, which is very large. We worked out I could be that person to help."

The relocation comes as A&O's senior partner David Morley has returned from a three-month secondment to the firm's Asian offices, where he has been overseeing the firm's expansion in the region.