The Ince Group has hired 10 lawyers, including seven partners, from shipping law specialist Bentleys, Stokes and Lowless, it announced Wednesday.

Bentleys' partnership will cease as part of the deal, which is not an acquisition and will not involve the transfer of any intellectual property.

Bentleys had been in business for over 80 years and is currently led by senior partner Paul Griffiths, according to the firm's website. The team focuses exclusively on maritime and insurance law, including specialist advice on admiralty.

Ince chief executive Adrian Biles said: "While we have a rich heritage in this area, we wanted to develop additional capacity to grow our client base and further increase our market share."

The acquisition is the first under the new Ince Group branding, which was introduced last year. It also comes almost a year after listed firm Gordon Dadds agreed to acquire Ince & Co after the latter had fallen into administration. The combined firm later rebranded as The Ince Group.

Last week, Ince saw its share price fall considerably, with 25% wiped off the AIM-listed firm's valuation since the start of the year.