White & Case has hired Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) head of litigation and investigations Laura Durrant, in the latest boost to the US firm's London office.

Durrant joined the bank in 2010, prior to which she was an associate at Herbert Smith Freehills for four years.

In her most recent role at RBS, she advised the bank on contentious regulatory and financial crime issues as well as actual and threatened litigation, business-as-usual but higher risk supervisory reviews, and various enforcement and internal investigations.

White & Case global financial insitutions co-head John Reynolds said: "The last decade has been a very busy time for us, advising financial institutions on the most complex contentious issues arising from the financial crisis. The litigation and enforcement environment for banks is now in a period of change; we are equipping White & Case to support clients in addressing the challenges that they will face."

Her hire is the latest for White & Case's London base, in-keeping with its strategy to prioritise City lawyer headcount growth in recent years.

Since the start of 2018, the firm has boosted its ranks with a number of litigation and disputes hires.

Last month, it hired Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner contentious construction and engineering partner David Robertson to its arbitration team, and Cadwalader London litigation partner Steven Baker to its commercial litigation practice.

The duo's hires came a month after commercial litigation specialist Chris Brennan joined from Addleshaw Goddard.

In February, it hired Weil Gotshal & Manges litigation partner and disputes co-head Hannah Field-Lowes to the practice.

In 2015, White & Case launched an ambitious new five-year strategy plan, with rapid growth in London and New York at its centre.

The firm is now more than halfway through the plan, which included a target of boosting lawyer count in the City from 350 to more than 500 within five years, with the firm also aiming to increase New York headcount to a similar size.