Eversheds has bolstered its London and Leeds offices with a series of recruits from CMS Cameron McKenna and Cobbetts.

The firm has added to its pensions practice in Leeds with the hire of a four-strong team from Cobbetts. The team is headed by partner Richard Shelton, who is making a return to Eversheds after leaving to join Cobbetts in 2004. 

The rest of the team comprises directors Simon Evans and Patricia Critchley – who will join Eversheds as principal associate and senior associate respectively – as well as associate Cat Ellis.

The start dates for the quartet have yet to be confirmed, but they are all expected to have joined Eversheds by December.

The appointments mark the latest recruits for Eversheds' pension team following February's partner hires of Sarah Swift from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and Emma King and Sarah Franklin from Squire Sanders.

Cobbetts has filled the gap left by Shelton's departure with the appointment of Pinsent Masons' head of public sector pensions, John Henratty. He will join on 1 October to head up the pensions practice,

with the firm set to make further pension hires in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, Eversheds has also boosted its London banking team with the hire of banking and finance partner Alex Doughty from CMS.

Doughty, who focuses on banking, infrastructure and project finance work – particularly in the emerging markets – started work at Eversheds this week.

He said: "Eversheds has an impressive reputation in the banking and finance sector, a strong collegiate vision and clear strategy."