Jones Day has hired a five-lawyer team, including two local partners, from White & Case's Brussels office.

The two local partners are Ferdinand Brughmans, who heads up White & Case's Brussels energy, infrastructure, project and asset finance group, and capital markets partner Matthieu Duplat. White & Case has local partners in some international offices, who are neither equity nor salaried partners, with the title instead reflecting a step towards partnership.

Projects and infrastructure associates Serkan Alhan and Laurent Vercauteren, and capital markets associate Thomas Flament, are also joining Jones Day.

Brughmans' practice focuses on advising banks, financial institutions, institutional lenders, private equity funds and corporate borrowers, including arrangers, senior and mezzanine debt providers. He made partner at White & Case in January last year.

Duplat specialises in capital market transactions, corporate finance, stock exchange matters and company law, and had been a partner at White & Case since 2013.

Jones Day Brussels head Bernard Amory said: "They are extremely well connected to the Belgian and European markets, and they will strongly complement and enhance our client service offerings in the financial sector. We also look forward to their working on a cross-practice basis with our Brussels partners in [the] corporate, tax, and litigation practices."

Elsewhere in Brussels, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan is currently in discussions to hire three of US rival Shearman & Sterling's five partners in the city. The trio comprises Brussels head and competition co-head Stephen Mavroghenis, as well as fellow partners Miguel Rato and Trevor Soames.

All three originally joined Shearman in 2011 from collapsed US firm Howrey. It is understood some associates may follow them to Quinn.