Wall Street leader Davis Polk & Wardwell has launched an English law practice in the City with the hire of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer corporate veteran Simon Witty.

Witty is set to join the US law firm's London arm in April this year. It is not yet known whether he is bringing any associates with him.

Witty has been a partner at Freshfields for 15 years and is established as one of the firm's leading equity capital markets specialists after acting on a string of mandates, including public offerings for Telecity Group and AZ Electronic and secondary offerings for Royal Bank of Scotland, Centrica and Punch Taverns.

The highly regarded partner had previously been linked to moves to several other major law firms.

The hire is expected to be the first of a number of senior appointments Davis Polk is planning to make over the coming months for its English law practice in the City.

Davis Polk is one of the last leading Wall Street law firms to move into UK law, following peers like Sullivan & Cromwell and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, both of which have expanded their UK practices in recent years.

The move has been expected since Davis Polk shifted from its traditional focus on US law in 2010 to launch a Hong Kong law practice with the hire of several high-profile partners from Freshfields and Linklaters.

The move reflects an increasingly international focus from Manhattan's legal elite, a stance which has seen them increasingly edge into local law in key finance centres rather than focus on maintaining referrals with local law firms.

Davis Polk, for example, was a traditional referral partner of Slaughter and May and the steady loss of referrals from New York law firms was known to be one reason that Herbert Smith pulled out of its tripartite alliance with Gleiss Lutz and Stibbe in December.

Davis Polk managing partner Thomas Reid commented: "We have seen Simon's work first-hand in handling some of the most complex equity transactions in Europe. He is ideally suited to help us launch our English law practice in London and to develop our existing English law capabilities in China and Brazil.

"With the launch of an English law practice in London, we can strengthen our leadership in global securities offerings that we already handle in Europe, Asia and Latin America, and we can expand the services we offer in the UK."

One UK-qualified partner with a leading New York firm said: "Davis Polk is one of the last US law firms to launch an English law capability. This reflects the extremely conservative nature of this firm – in the past, it has relied on referral relationships. The move is testament to the fact that Davis Polk has a big pipeline of corporate transactions even in this patchy deal climate."

Witty joins a seven-partner US law practice in London, which was initially established in 1973. Major clients that Davis Polk's City arm has advised in recent years include AstraZeneca, Lloyds TSB, RBS and Shire.

Witty commented: "I've greatly enjoyed my time at Freshfields, but the opportunity to continue my practice at Davis Polk provides a new and exciting challenge. I will be privileged to have been a partner at two such fine law firms."

Davis Polk is regarded as having adopted a more ambitious and expansive stance since the Scots-born Reid was appointed to succeed long time managing partner John Ettinger last year. The 163-partner firm is one of the most profitable practices in the US with average profits per equity partner of $2.21m (£1.43m) in 2010, a rise of 5% on the previous year.

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