Linklaters has expanded its presence in the US, with the formal opening of a Washington DC office.

The magic circle firm, which already has a 150-lawyer office in New York, said the Washington office will be led by New York co-managing partners Jeff Norton and Conrado Tenaglia, who will oversee both US offices.

Tax partner Joseph Pari and competition partner Jeffrey Schmidt are currently the only partners in a six-lawyer team stationed at the office. A spokesperson said it was not certain how many partners and associates would eventually be based at the office.

The launch of the new base comes after the firm in 2002 closed its previous office in the US capital, which had been open for a decade, with a spokeswoman saying at the time "there was no economic justification to keep the office open".

Legal Week first revealed that the firm was planning to open in the city in June last year.

Jeff Norton, Linklaters' New York co-managing partner, said: "Linklaters has acted for clients and appeared before agencies in Washington DC for a number of years. The establishment of a formal DC presence demonstrates our commitment to delivering an integrated global service to our clients amid a heightened environment of government enforcement and global coordination among regulators."

According to the firm's website, the Washington office will provide a "US and global offering for clients on their cross-border M&A, financing and projects transactions, and in regulatory investigations".

The 9,900 sq ft Washington office will focus on tax, antitrust, litigation, and financial and contentious regulatory matters, led by a team with "established relationships with the major regulatory agencies whose enforcement and policy decisions impact our global clients".

Schmidt joined the firm in 2008, prior to which he was the director of the Bureau of Competition of the US Federal Trade Commission for almost three years, where he was responsible for the supervision of the Commission's antitrust enforcement in all merger and non-merger cases.

Globally, Linklaters has a cross-practice headcount of around 230 US lawyers.

The 601 Thirteenth Street NW address is just three blocks down from fellow magic circle firm Allen & Overy, which launched its office in the capital in July 2011 through a team hire from O'Melveny & Myers.

Magic circle rivals Clifford Chance (CC) and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer both already have offices in Washington DC, with CC counting 40 lawyers in total and Freshfields' base housing around 30.

Freshfields launched in Washington in 1998 while CC legacy firm Rogers & Wells opened in 1949.