Eversheds has added three partners to its London pensions practice with the hire of two laterals from Squire Sanders and an of counsel from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

The Squire Sanders partner duo, Emma King and Sarah Franklin, both join from the firm's Birmingham arm, where King headed up the local practice.

Their moves come after Squire Sanders' Birmingham-based global pensions group head Francois Barker also joined Eversheds last month.

King, who has a dual practice in non-contentious work and pensions litigation, also holds a seat on the Association of Pension Lawyers' litigation committee, while Franklin's practice focuses on defined benefit pension arrangements.

The third hire, Sarah Swift, was promoted to of counsel in Freshfields' employment, pensions and benefits practice in May last year.

Eversheds' pensions team works with a client roster including British Airways, the Department for Transport and T-Mobile, while the firm also won a mandate in 2010 to act as the official advisers to the trustees of the John Lewis pension scheme following a competitive tender process.

Eversheds pensions head Anthony Arter (pictured) said: "We're excited to welcome three top pension partners to the team. Our pensions team has gone from strength to strength."

Separately, the firm has been appointed to advise Kahramaa, the Qatar general electricity and water corporation, on the development of electricity and water supply systems 
in the region.

Kahramaa has been authorised by the Qatari Government to establish, operate, license and regulate the processing facilities. Eversheds will work alongside engineering consultancy company Energoprojekt ENTEL and PricewaterhouseCoopers.