Clifford Chance (CC) tax investigations and disputes head Liesl Fichardt is leaving the magic circle firm to join Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan's fast-growing London office.

Fichardt has been at CC since 2013 after joining from Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP), where she also led the tax disputes practice. Prior to this she was a partner at US firm Dorsey & Whitney.

Quinn Emanuel managing partner John Quinn said: "Liesl has one of the leading contentious tax practices in the UK and is involved in major tax disputes internationally. We believe Liesl will allow us to represent both existing and new clients in some of the most significant tax disputes all over world."

London co-managing partner Richard East (pictured) added: "She brings with her a stellar reputation in an area which will be another significant new growth area for us. We have a number of mutual clients and we are expecting her transition to be pretty seamless."

The move is one of a string of recent hires for Quinn's London office. In September last year the firm recruited Macfarlanes financial services head David Berman, while in June last year Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) partner James Bremen joined as chair of its London construction practice.

Quinn continued to bolster its London office last year with the hire of corporate investigations and white-collar crime partner Robert Amaee from Covington & Burling as head of its London white collar and corporate investigations practice.

Quinn launched its first outpost in Europe in London in 2008 and then expanded into continental Europe in 2012 with an office in Mannheim, Germany. It has since opened bases in Brussels, Hamburg, Moscow, Munich and Paris.