Stephenson Harwood has hired two senior City insolvency lawyers from SNR Denton, taking the number of partners to have joined from the transatlantic firm or legacy Denton Wilde Sapte to seven in little more than a year.

Susan Moore, formerly a senior equity partner at SNR Denton, who became a consultant at the firm around six months ago, is set to join Stephenson Harwood as a partner alongside partner Elizabeth Elliott. Both currently sit within SNR Denton's London contentious insolvency practice but will join Stephenson Harwood as partners in the banking group.

The departures, which come around a year after SNR Denton's high-profile insolvency head Mark Andrews retired, will leave the firm with three contentious insolvency partners in London. They sit within a broader insolvency practice led by Neil Griffiths – which counts around a dozen partners.

Stephenson Harwood has set out an ambitious strategy to grow its banking practice to 10 partners and 30 associates in the medium term. Including Moore and Elliott, the practice will now count eight partners, of which five will have joined from SNR Denton or its legacy UK arm.

Banking head Jayesh Patel joined from Dentons in 2010 and subsequently hired banking partner James Linforth. Meanwhile, real estate finance partners Paul Hayward-Surry and Andrew Hill joined Stephenson Harwood's real estate practice last month.

Patel said: "The idea is very much for our banking practice to grow."