Irwin Mitchell has continued the expansion of its commercial division with the recruitment of partners Phil Berwick and Nick Dawson, who join from Pinsent Masons and DWF respectively.

The hires take the total number of new partners in Irwin Mitchell's business legal services (BLS) division to 20 in the last two years, and are further evidence of the firm's push to diversify its offering beyond personal legal services.

London-based Berwick is a tax investigations partner and former director of Pinsents' litigation and compliance team, a role he carried over from McGrigors when the two firms merged in May 2012.

Formerly the head of tax investigations at Tenon, Berwick focuses his practice on investigations brought by HMRC's specialist investigations and local compliance fraud teams.

He joins alongside corporate partner Nick Dawson, who will work with the Birmingham office's head of business in the city, Chris Rawstron, a former DLA Piper partner who joined last year tasked with building Irwin Mitchell's business legal team in the West Midlands.

Dawson brings more than 10 years of M&A and disposals experience, in addition to private equity-led and cross-border transactions. He will be joined by senior corporate associate Rob Laugharne, who moves to Irwin Mitchell's Birmingham office from Shoosmiths.

"We are dedicated to ensuring that we continue to recruit new high quality people and teams which have the ability to help us grow," commented Niall Baker, chief executive of Irwin Mitchell's BLS group.

"These latest appointments speak volumes for our determination to keep expanding and are a further sign that senior advisers, not just lawyers, are excited about what we are doing and want to be part of it."

In October, the firm's commercial division brought in another trio of lateral hires, in the shape of Pinsent Masons litigation head Nigel Kissack, Squire Sanders intellectual property partner Alex Newman and Brown Rudnick lawyer Kirsten Doherty, who joined as a consultant.