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

SJ Berwin has appointed Simon Holmes as the new head of the firm's EU, competition and regulatory practice group. He is replacing Stephen Kon, who stepped up to become senior partner of the firm at the start of this month.

Holmes (pictured), who joined SJ Berwin in 1994, has led the London EU, competition and regulatory group since 2008. The City partner will now head up both the international practice group and its London arm.

Taylor Wessing has hired Herbert Smith technology partner and former Bird & Bird managing partner Christopher Rees for its London office. Rees, who has 30 years of industry experience, joined Herbert Smith as head of non-contentious IT in 2000 from Bird & Bird, where he was managing partner from 1993 to 1996.

Simmons & Simmons has added a partner to its asset finance sector group with the hire of Clifford Chance (CC) senior associate Donna Ager.

Ager, an aviation finance specialist, becomes the second new partner addition to the group after Simmons hired DLA Piper's UK investment funds team head David Williams last week. Before joining CC she also worked in-house in the legal finance team of Airbus.

Ashurst has also recruited an associate to join its partnership with the hire of energy lawyer Nicolas Bonnefoy from the London office of France's Gide Loyrette Nouel.

Minter Ellison has appointed former Mayer Brown finance partner Nicola Marley as head of its London finance team, bringing the Australian firm's City partner headcount to three.

Marley specialises in advising private equity sponsors, financial institutions and companies on financing deals and related restructurings. She replaces Nigel Clark as head of London finance after he relocated to Beijing to lead the firm's efforts in Greater China and Mongolia.

Bird & Bird has hired Dundas & Wilson's head of EU & competition, Peter Willis. Willis is joining the City firm's London HQ as a partner in the international EU & competition practice group, one of Bird & Bird's core practice areas.

He has a particular focus on competition and regulatory issues in the energy sector, as well as pharmaceuticals and technology experience.

Speechly Bircham has strengthened its intellectual property group with the appointment of former Baker Botts IP partner Robin Lightner Maisashvili. Maisashvili, a US lawyer who has worked in Silicon Valley, Houston and Boston, relocated to London seven years ago.

Wragge & Co has expanded its professional liability team with the appointment of partner Jane Howard from Reynolds Porter Chamberlain, where she headed up the accounting and actuarial liability teams.

The hire of Howard, who has acted for the 'big four' accounting firms and Rolls-Royce, takes partner headcount in Wragges' dispute resolution team to 33.

Howard Kennedy has hired Devonshires' former senior partner Allan Hudson as a consultant for its property department. The news comes after the firm launched a redundancy consultation affecting six non-equity partners and one senior associate in its property department in February this year in a bid to maintain profitability.

DWF has boosted its Newcastle corporate offering with the hire of partner Robin Steel, a former director in the local office of rival Dickinson Dees.

Steel has advised UK train operators on franchising and related projects, and his appointment comes shortly after the expansive Manchester firm acquired regional practice Crutes, handing it offices in Newcastle, Carlisle and Stockton on Tees.

In Paris, McDermott Will & Emery has hired Sabine Nauges to head the local regulatory practice group. Nauges, who has previously also worked in-house at France Telecom, has joined from Weil Gotshal & Manges. Her practice focuses on administrative and regulatory law, including in the sectors of telecommunications, health and energy.

Former Dewey & LeBoeuf Paris corporate partner Stephen Walters has joined Bird & Bird in the French capital. Walters, who was formerly the managing partner of UK firm Simmons & Simmons' Paris office, joined Dewey in 2005.

Walters, who focuses on cross-border M&A and is qualified in French and English law, is the eighth new partner for Bird & Bird's corporate group this year, with three internal promotions and five lateral hires, four each in Asia and Europe.

DLA Piper has expanded its finance and projects team in Brussels with the appointment of Jacques Richelle, a banking partner who is relocating from Linklaters' local office. The firm also recently boosted its Boston insurance regulation team with the hire of Dewey & LeBoeuf senior counsel Peter Rice.

US firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman has recruited DLA Piper partner Henry Liu for its Asia finance practice. Liu, who joined DLA as a partner in its global sports, media and entertainment group in 2010, will work primarily out of Pillsbury's New York office and will head up the firm's financial institutions infrastructure team for Greater China.

Squire Sanders is ramping up its presence in the Far East with four partner appointments in Beijing and Hong Kong. Corporate lawyers Jenny Liu and Xudong Ni are moving to the firm's Beijing and Shanghai offices respectively from Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, where Liu was a partner and Ni was special counsel.

Fellow corporate lawyer Sin Kiu Ng is moving to Squire Sanders' Hong Kong practice from Sidley Austin where she was an associate, with Jones Day associate Kam Law joining her in Hong Kong. Their hires come after the firm's recent launch of a Singapore base led by energy partner Ignatius Hwang.