Dechert has made a double hire for its London office, including Kirkland & Ellis City corporate partner Christopher Field.

Field is joining Dechert with a former Kirkland colleague – tax partner Jane Scobie, who left the US firm at the start of the year.

Field, who joined Kirkland in 2005 from Slaughter and May and made partner the following year, focuses on private equity and M&A. In 2015, he led a Kirkland team advising Sycamore Partners on the sale of shoe retailer Kurt Geiger to Cinven, while in 2012 he was part of the firm's team advising Bain on the €1bn purchase of Telefonica's call centre business Atento.

Scobie, meanwhile, specialises in the tax aspects of commercial transactions, including private equity and M&A. She joined Kirkland as a partner in 2008 from Weil Gotshal & Manges, where she had been a senior associate.

Dechert corporate chair Mark Thierfelder said: "Chris has deep expertise in domestic and international private equity deals across multiple industries, which will directly benefit our clients in the UK and around the world. Coupled with Jane's significant experience developing tax strategies for complex transactions, the two will further strengthen our private equity practice in London and expand our global platform."

The US firm has made a series of partner hires in London team during the past year, including Kirkland finance partner John Markland and White & Case private equity partner Ross Allardice, Kirkland banking and finance partner Rob Bradshaw, and senior DLA Piper finance duo Philip Butler and David Miles.

Kirkland has also been on a hiring spree in recent months. The firm recently recruited Ropes & Gray London investment funds partner Anand Damodaran, on the back of the hire of a five-partner investigations and government enforcement team from Ropes, including lawyers from four of the firm's offices in the US, UK and Asia.

Kirkland declined to comment.