Latham & Watkins has sealed the hire of Allen & Overy (A&O) M&A partner Edward Barnett, in the latest in a series of magic circle recruits for the expansive US firm.

Barnett is set to join Latham's London M&A practice after around 20 years at A&O, including almost 10 as a partner. His start date is not yet confirmed.

The move – which comes just three months after Latham sealed the hire of A&O's former banking head Stephen Kensell – will take the total number of partners leaving UK firms to join Latham's London office to nine since the start of 2016.

Major deals Barnett has recently been involved on include the £3.2bn takeover bid for William Hill by gambling companies Rank Group and 888 Holdings, with Barnett leading A&O's team advising 888 Holdings alongside fellow corporate partner Annabelle Croker.

His practice centres around cross-border corporate work, and last year he co-led A&O's team representing Coca-Cola Iberian Partners on its $11bn (£9bn) merger with US bottling company Coca-Cola Enterprises and German bottling company Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgetraenke. In 2013, he acted for GlaxoSmithKline on the £1.35bn sale of its Ribena and Lucozade brands to Japan's Suntory Beverage & Food.

In recent years, Latham has focused on bringing in lateral corporate partners with specific expertise, said London managing partner Jay Sadanandan. "Investing in our corporate platform is a strategic priority for the firm and we have been steadily investing in our London capability, adding specialist practice and industry expertise to complement the team."

In February this year, the firm hired the UK Competition and Markets Authority's director of mergers Jonathan Parker, with Herbert Smith Freehills oil and gas expert Simon Tysoe joining in May last year and Macfarlanes' environmental specialist Paul Davies coming on board in 2014.

Latham's corporate clients in London include Thomas Cook, Aviva, Nissan, Aon, mobile network operator VimpelCom and pharmaceutical group Allergan.

The US heavyweight has added considerable bench strength to its City base this year, with other standout hires from the magic circle including Slaughter and May finance partner Sanjev Warna-kula-suriya.

The firm's magic circle hires have not been restricted to London, with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer executive partner Michael Lacovara joining in New York and A&O German international capital markets group head Oliver Seiler set to move to Latham's Frankfurt base.

Latham London partner and executive committee member Richard Trobman said the hire represented an "important milestone" for the firm's corporate practice. "We are committed to establishing the world's premier corporate practice with market-leading capability in the US, London and other major M&A centres," he added.

In a statement, A&O said: "We can confirm that Ed Barnett has decided to leave A&O. We would like to thank him for the contribution he made during his time here and wish him well for the future."

Latham London partner hires announced in 2016

February Joshua Kiernan, White & Case Israeli head and capital markets partner

Jonathan Parker, Competition and Markets Authority director (joined as competition partner)

May Sophie Lamb, Debevoise & Plimpton, arbitration

June Jeremy Trinder, Dechert, real estate finance

Rob Moulton, Ashurst, global co-head of regulation

July

Quentin Gwyer, GE Capital real estate executive counsel (joined as finance partner)

Simon Baskerville, Ashurst, restructuring

Stuart Alford QC, UK Serious Fraud Office (joined as a litigation partner)

Stephen Kensell, A&O, finance

August

Sanjev Warna-kula-suriya, Slaughter and May, finance

September

Nicola Higgs, Ashurst, finance

October

Edward Barnett, Allen & Overy, M&A