Latham & Watkins has hired Serious Fraud Office (SFO) prosecutor Stuart Alford QC as partner in its London litigation practice. At the SFO, Alford focused on fraud and bribery matters in the financial sector and was involved in the SFO's investigations into the manipulation of LIBOR and foreign-exchange rates. Prior to joining the SFO, he was a criminal barrister at 36 Bedford Row chambers.

DWF has strengthened its litigation team with the hire of PwC Legal's head of commercial disputes Jonathan Isaacs, who joined as a partner in DWF's London office, bringing with him a senior associate and a solicitor.

Pinsent Masons has boosted its Duesseldorf office with the hire of employment partner Peter Christ from Clifford Chance (CC). He joins the firm alongside three other CC lawyers. Christ focuses on employment work for clients that include energy and life sciences companies.

Hogan Lovells has hired corporate tax partner Elliot Weston from Gowling WLG. His work focuses on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, funds, corporate reorganisations and financing transactions, and he regularly advises institutional investors, corporations and investment managers in the real estate sector. Prior to joining legacy Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co, he was a senior associate at Linklaters.

K&L Gates has bolstered its London office with the hire of banking and finance partner Mayank Gupta from Mayer Brown. Gupta's practice focuses on corporate finance work and leveraged finance matters for both lender and borrower clients.

Squire Patton Boggs has hired finance partner Manuel Mingot in its Madrid office. He joins from Spanish firm Broseta Abogados, where he had been head of its Madrid finance practice. He was previously a partner at Iberian firm Cuatrecasas Gonçalves Pereira.

African firm Bowman Gilfillan has appointed Jane Andropoulos as a partner in its litigation practice. Previously, she was a partner in Hogan Lovells' Johannesburg office and prior to that was a partner at ENSafrica.

Dechert has hired finance partner Phillip Sacks from King & Spalding's Dubai office. He joins Dechert's base in the country. Sacks advises sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions and managers on the corporate and regulatory aspects of structuring, establishing, reorganising and liquidating onshore and offshore fund structures, including private equity funds and venture capital funds.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has appointed new regional managing partners for its European offices.

Berlin competition partner Helmut Bergmann is taking on the role of regional managing partner for Germany, Austria, and central and eastern Europe, succeeding Hamburg employment partner Klaus-Stefan Hohenstatt, who had held the role since 2010.

The firm has also created a new role, managing partner for the rest of continental Europe, which has been filled by Paris corporate partner Alan Mason.

Both will serve four-year terms, with Bergmann's term having started on 1 July and Mason having taken up his role on 1 June.