Norton Rose has hired a new partner for its City capital markets practice, with the recruitment marking the second lateral addition to the practice in the last three months.

The top 10 City firm has hired Vinson & Elkins London partner Peter Young, who joined last week (6 June) after six years as a partner in the US firm's City base.

Young advises on capital markets transactions such as high-yield and investment grade debt issues and has worked with clients including investment banks and companies in the financial services, energy, technology, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, shipping and steel sectors.

His hire comes after Norton Rose hired former Allen & Overy structured finance and capital markets partner David Shearer in April as the fourth partner in the practice in London.

Norton Rose banking head Jeremy Edwards said: "An ongoing shortage of debt financing has prompted many of our clients to look at capital markets as an alternative means of raising funds. Peter's in-depth knowledge of debt offerings will prove invaluable as our clients continue to seek out more innovative forms of funding."

Separately, Norton Rose is in the process of rolling out its human resources and knowledge management systems across all of its global merger partners.

The 2,500-lawyer firm hopes to integrate systems by bringing in a single firmwide intranet, a client extranet, library services and e-learning across its Australian, South African and Canadian arms.

The process is being led from London by group director of knowledge Sam Dimond and group director of people and development Andrew McEachern, working closely with chief information officer Sheila Doyle and the firm's executive committee.