Bingham McCutchen has made a rare hire in London, with the recruitment of Jones Day's London competition practice head Frances Murphy.

Murphy, who represents clients including AstraZeneca and the London Metal Exchange in contentious and non-contentious EU and domestic competition matters, brings the patrner headcount at the London office's competition to three.

"[Murphy's] arrival underscores Bingham's commitment to growing our competition law practice in Europe," commented Bingham litigator Richard Taffet. "Her arrival further enables us to leverage our US and Japanese antitrust and competition law practice to quicken the pace of cross-border coordinated antitrust representations for clients."

Murphy said: "The opportunity to assist a firm such as Bingham in growing its competition practice in Europe and globally naturally appealed to me."

In addition to representing clients in proceedings before the European Commission, Murphy has led clients in UK dealings with the Office of Fair Trading, the Competition Commission, the Competition Appeals Tribunal and the High Court.

Despite rarely hiring in the City, Bingham's recruitment of Muprhy is the firm's second lateral appointment in 2013, and follows the move of Herbert Smith Freehills investment funds partner Thiha Tun.

Earlier this month, Boies Schiller confirmed it had taken Bingham's London litigation head Natasha Harrison to head the disputes-focused firm's new City office.