US law firm Smith Gambrell & Russell has expanded into Europe with the launch of three offices in the UK and Germany.

The Atlanta-based firm, which has five bases across the US, has launched in London and Southampton to expand its aviation finance practice beyond the US, while also opening a base in Munich to support its longstanding practice serving German companies for inbound transactional work.

The firm has recruited two aviation finance partners from UK top 50 firm Blake Morgan to launch the London and Southampton outposts. Partner Ben Graham-Evans, who headed the aviation group at Blake Morgan, has opened a London office for the US firm, while partner Mark Turnbull has opened a base in Southampton, where he will be joined by Blake Morgan associate Gareth Hawes.

The 200-lawyer firm grossed $93.1m (£75m) in 2015, placing it at number 194 in the Am Law 200 ranking, with average profit per partner of $620,000 (£500,000).

With the Blake Morgan lawyers, Smith Gambrell has about 15 aviation law practitioners in Atlanta, New York and the UK. Managing partner Stephen Forte (pictured) said the UK provides the "third leg of the stool", for the practice outside Atlanta, explaining that in the US, New York is the centre for this work, while London is the hub overseas.

"It gives us the coverage internationally. Aircraft finance deals are done under either US or UK law," he said.

Forte said he'd been working on the UK deal for about six months. "Brexit reared its head when we were on the verge of having a partnership vote to open in the UK," he said, adding that Britain abandoning the EU does not affect the firm's aviation finance practice, since most of its clients are not based in the UK.

Meanwhile, German lawyer Markus Bahmann has joined Smith Gambrell from Munich firm SSP Schiessl to launch a new office in the City, supporting the US firm's long-established transactional practice serving German companies. Bahman handles transactional, intellectual property and competition work for German and other European clients.

Forte said Smith Gambrell has "several hundred German clients", which are its largest source of inbound international work for a range of transactions, including M&A, real estate and renewable energy deals.

Forte said Smith Gambrell has worked with Bahmann for about 20 years, and has also worked closely with the lawyers from Blake Morgan. "None of these folks are unknown to us, which is the best way to recruit," he said.

Meanwhile, the firm is also adding seven lawyers to its New York office with the acquisition of New York boutique Balber Pickard Maldonado & Van Der Tuin. The moves will expand Smith Gambrell's New York office, which it opened in 2009, to 45 lawyers.