Latham & Watkins has strengthened its Paris corporate practice with the hire of a duo from Debevoise & Plimpton – including the co-head of the US firm's Paris arm, Patrick Laporte.

Laporte and international counsel Pierre-Louis Clero both joined Debevoise in 2005 from Linklaters, where Laporte had been a partner for six years. Both advise across a wide range of public and private M&A, joint ventures and commercial agreements, acting for industrial clients including companies in the media and advertising, telecommunication, transport, energy and finance sectors.

Laporte most recently led the team advising AXA on its €5bn (£4.1bn) merger with its main shareholder FINAXA. Prior to joining Debevoise, he led the team that represented Air France in its €3.8bn acquisition of KLM.

Clero recently advised Air France-KLM in its €323m (£267m) acquisition of a 25% interest in Alitalia and acted for Apax on a joint acquisition with Bridgepoint Capital of Histoire d'Or and Marc Orian.

Latham Paris managing partner Olivier du Mottay commented: "Patrick and Pierre-Louis bring a wealth of experience to our existing capability. Their high-end public and private M&A practice strategically complements our leading capability and their arrival is a landmark moment in the expansion of our corporate practice."

Corporate vice chair John Watson added: "Patrick and Pierre-Louis also bring entrepreneurship, strong business sense and energy to the practice."

News of the hires comes after Allen & Overy hired a trio of corporate lawyers led by partner Marc Castagnede from Debevoise for its Paris office in March 2011.