K&L Gates has boosted its London office with the hire of a three-partner energy disputes team from Ince & Co.

The trio includes Ince's former global energy head Jeremy Farr, who has been at the UK firm since 1985, making partner in 1994.

He specialises in oil and gas contracts including work involving dispute resolution, drilling, oilfield services contracts and pollution, and served as global energy head before the firm changed its sector structure to combine energy and infrastructure into one group.

He is followed to K&L Gates by fellow partners Charles Lockwood and Clare Kempkens. Lockwood has been a partner at Ince for over 10 years after being made up in 2007, while Kempkens joined the partnership in 2011.

Farr said that the team – which does not include any additional associates – was attracted to K&L Gates by its global platform. "[This move] offers us the ideal chance to broaden our focus and offer a fuller service to a wider range of participants in the sector including contractors, oil companies, and other upstream/midstream businesses," he said.

K&L Gates Europe and Middle East managing partner Tony Griffiths added: "With the challenges being faced by the energy sector, we have already seen a surge in oil and gas related disputes and pre-litigation advice both in London and across our global network. The recruitment of this team is an important move for K&L Gates."

Ince has come through a difficult period in recent years, with the firm seeing three consecutive years of declining revenues before posting a 16% rise to £88.5m last summer.

The firm restructured its partnership in 2015 – leading to six partner exits – and also embarked on a new strategy, aiming to boost its transactional practices and end its reliance on disputes work.

In a statement, Ince said: "Jeremy is a dispute resolution lawyer who sits within our teams that focus on providing advice to offshore oil contractors, with whom we have strong and established institutional relationships. Our commitment to clients in this area remains undiminished and will indeed be strengthened as we use our broader infrastructure expertise to expand our offering across the energy industry."

Last June Ince confirmed it was still on the hunt for a UK merger partner after it emerged that talks with fellow insurance firm Hill Dickinson had ended. Ince confirmed that it had met with a number of firms, including Hill Dickinson, as part of its bid to grow its business.