A team of Hunton & Williams competition lawyers, including five partners, is set to join Shearman & Sterling in Washington DC.

The partners include Hunton's Washington DC managing partner David Higbee – a member of US President Donald Trump's transition team – global competition head Bruce Hoffman, and competition partners Todd Stenerson, Djordje Petkoski and Ryan Shores.

Shearman's partnership has voted on the hires and it is understood they resigned yesterday (14 June).

Shearman managing partner David Beveridge said: "Our new partners significantly expand our presence in Washington broaden our corporate client base in industries such as oil and gas, insurance, technology and media, and significantly enhance our M&A and litigation offerings – all of which perfectly aligns with the firm's strategy."

Higbee was among a line-up of senior lawyers who worked on Trump's transition team ahead of his inauguration as President this January. He also worked for President George W Bush's administration from 2001 to 2005, before joining Hunton as a partner.

His practice focuses on government, internal investigations and merger review. He is also vice-chair of Hunton's global competition practice and regularly handles matters before the Federal Trade Commission and the antitrust division of the US Department of Justice.

Hoffman, who worked at the Federal Trade Commission from 2001 to 2004, has worked on cases including representing Delta Air Lines before the Department of Justice in its successful acquisition of Northwest Airlines.

The news comes after Shearman recently saw a trio of Brussels competition partners depart to join Quinn Emmanuel Urquhart & Sullivan's office in the Belgian capital. Trevor Soames, now Quinn's Brussels managing partner, moved over in December last year, and was subsequently followed by Stephen Mavroghenis and Miguel Rato this May.

Hunton, which has 13 offices across the US, alongside international outposts in Brussels, Beijing, Tokyo and Bangkok, recently held merger discussions with Addleshaw Goddard; however, it is understood these talks have fizzled out nearly two years after they began.