The Transfer Window is a weekly round-up of recent legal moves in the UK and abroad. Please send all announcements to [email protected].

Ashurst has added a partner to its City banking practice with the hire of Linklaters London managing associate Nicholas Moore.

Moore, who has spent almost 12 years at the magic circle firm, focuses on investment grade loans, an area Ashurst is aiming to expand into. He is currently negotiating his exit terms from Linklaters and is due to join Ashurst's partnership in the summer.

Also in the capital, Davenport Lyons has made a duo of hires, with licensing and motoring offences lawyer Philip Somarakis and media lawyer Jonathan Monjack joining the firm as partner and consultant respectively. Somarakis joins Davenport's dispute resolution team from Blake Lapthorn, while Monjack is joining the firm's the media team as a consultant.

Monjack is a founding partner of Engel Monjack Solicitors, which boasts a client list including Ministry of Sound, EMAP, Saatchi & Saatchi, Ms Dynamite, DJ Carl Cox and Darcey Bussell.

Elsewhere, David Weare, the former head of construction at both Olswang and Davies Arnold Cooper, has joined London firm Fladgate, while City boutique Wallace has recruited commercial property partner Matthew Morgan from Howard Kennedy. Morgan was a partner at Howard Kennedy for six years and handles client relationships including Soho Estates and Le Pain Quotidien.

Meanwhile, on the continent, Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has grown its German arm with the hire of a new structured finance partner from Ashurst in Frankfurt. Thomas Prum joins from Ashurst's Frankfurt office, where he was of counsel. He marks the first partner hire for BLP since it launched in the region last year with a four-strong team from Linklaters.

DLA Piper's Paris office has seen the departure of international corporate finance partner Fabrice Rue. Rue, also formerly a partner at legacy Hogan & Hartson, has left to join Athens law firm Alexander Vassardanis & Partners.

K&L Gates has secured a notable hire in Asia, adding O'Melveny & Myers finance partner Neil Campbell to its Hong Kong base. At O'Melveny Campbell co-led the firm's Asia debt capital markets practice, heading up teams on some of the first securitisations in Korea, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia and Thailand.

K&L has also recently added a partner to its Dubai office with the hire of Clifford Chance senior associate Andrew Johnston.

In Australia, Holman Fenwick Willan has recruited a former state attorney-general as a partner for its Perth corporate, projects and finance practice. Cheryl Edwardes, who joins from minerals exploration company Hancock Prospecting, is a former environment minister and attorney-general of the Western Australian Government.

While at Hancock, she helped the company secure approval for major mining and infrastructure projects including the multibillion-dollar Roy Hill iron ore project in Western Australia's Pilbara region. Holman Fenwick now has seven lawyers in its Perth office, which it launched in June 2011.

Meanwhile, in Melbourne, DLA Piper has hired a partner for its local intellectual property and technology practice with the hire of Robynne Sanders from Australian intellectual property boutique Watermark Intellectual Property Lawyers.