Iqbal-Hussain-retouched Iqbal Hussein, Reed Smith

Reed Smith has boosted its life sciences practice with the hire of healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson's EMEA legal director of M&A.

Joining the firm as a partner, Iqbal Hussain has held senior legal roles at Johnson & Johnson since 2014, taking up the EMEA-wide role in 2016.

Having started his career at Magic Circle firm Slaughter and May, Hussain joined Ropes & Gray as an associate in 2012 before moving to Johnson & Johnson two years later.

Hussain's practice focuses on cross-border M&A, licensing, equity investments and joint ventures in the life sciences sector.

Delphine Currie, co-chair of the global corporate group at Reed Smith, said: "It has been our ambition to continue to deepen the bench strength of our corporate practice and to grow our life sciences capabilities in the U.K. Iqbal's technical expertise coupled with his deep life sciences sector knowledge make him a unique hire and a fantastic addition to the firm."

Last month, Reed Smith appointed a new innovation hub head in its London office, Adam Curphey, who joined from White & Case.

Earlier this summer, the firm also bolstered its Paris-based intellectual property practice with the hire of a three-strong team from Dentons, including partner Marianne Schaffner. It also hired Simmons & Simmons' Beijing office head Eric Lin as a partner for its energy and natural resources industry group.