Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and Keystone Law have become the latest firms to announce partner hires from King & Wood Mallesons' (KWM) European arm.

US firm Orrick has hired its second KWM partner this week, with the recruitment of London private equity partner Ylan Steiner.

Keystone meanwhile, has hired KWM Europe's commerce and technology head Jeremy Schrire, representing its second partner hire from the embattled firm in six months.

Steiner, who has been a partner in KWM's corporate finance department since 1995, specialises in venture financings, management buyouts, secondary transactions and a full range of related exits. A number of associates are expected to join Orrick with him, although numbers are not yet clear.

Earlier this week (19 November), Orrick hired private equity partner and head of the Germany corporate group Christoph Brenner. A team of KWM lawyers is also expected to join with him.

Orrick London partner Christopher Grew told Legal Week: "Orrick has a particular focus on the technology, energy and infrastructure, and financial services industries. In the technology sector, Ylan has developed a tremendous practice that fits exceedingly well with our platform."

He added: "We want to continue to grow in London as having strong bench strength in the City is critical to supporting technology companies throughout Europe."

Over at Keystone, Schrire will be reunited with fellow KWM partner Hilary O'Connor, an employment partner who left earlier this year.

Schrire, who joined the legacy SJ Berwin business in 1993 as a partner, is also currently head of KWM's consumer and retail group.

Keystone founder and managing partner James Knight commented: "We are delighted that Jeremy has decided to join the fold. His arrival is part of a continued partner-level recruitment strategy that has seen 50 senior lawyers join us in the past 12 months."

Speaking to Legal Week, the firm's chief operating officer William Robins said Keystone has had an exceptionally busy year and has adjusted its model accordingly.

He said: "While we started as a virtual law firm some 15 years ago, we have become more and more traditional each year. In response to a surge of applications from teams of lawyers over recent months and also to the internal demand for associate-level lawyers to work with our 210 partner-level people, we have adjusted our business model."

Partner exits from KWM are mounting daily ahead of a likely pre-pack administration of the European business next month.

Yesterday (21 December), it was announced that former European senior partner Stephen Kon is to join Macfarlanes along with fellow competition partners Tom Usher, Cameron Firth and Christophe Humpe.

Meanwhile, finance partner Ian Borman is set to join Winston & Strawn, while Reed Smith is set to hire KWM financial regulatory partner David Calligan and is understood to be in ongoing discussions with a larger number of KWM partners across its finance and tax teams, as well as lawyers in offices including Paris.

A small number of additional KWM partners are also understood to still be in talks with Winston.

Legal Week reported last week that two six-partner KWM  teams are set to join Greenberg Traurig and DLA Piper respectively. Meanwhile, KWM's China arm is in discussions to take on partners in multiple international offices including Germany, Spain and Dubai, as well as corporate and litigation teams in London.