Shearman & Sterling had hired Jeremy Sharpe, former chief of investment arbitration in the US Department of State, into its London international arbitration team.

Sharpe has previously advised the US government on the negotiation of bilateral investment treaties and US free trade agreements and represented the US government in investment treaty arbitrations.

Sharpe has also previously acted as legal adviser to the US embassy in Baghdad and as attorney-adviser in the State Department's Office of African and Near Eastern Affairs and the Office of International Claims and Investment Disputes.

He is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Centre where he lectures on international dispute resolution. He was previously in private practice in New York and Washington DC.

Shearman has also added Nils Eliasson from Mannheimer Swartling where he headed the firm's Asia dispute resolution practice. Eliasson joins Shearman in Hong Kong.

Eliasson's practice focuses on international commercial arbitration and investment treaty arbitration.

The firm's senior partner Creighton Condon said: "Nils and Jeremy are outstanding additions to Shearman & Sterling and will reinforce a practice that is already considered the gold standard globally."

In June Shearman announced that it had formed an alliance with Saudi Arabian practice Abdulaziz Al-Assaf. The deal with Riyadh-based Abdulaziz gives Shearman another base in the region in addition to its 16-strong Abu Dhabi office.