Latham & Watkins has hired long-serving Allen & Overy (A&O) corporate partner Peter Harwich in New York.

Harwich was made partner at A&O in 2001 and has since led on a range of high-profile M&A matters for the magic circle firm.

These include advising A&O client SAP on its announced $3.4bn purchase of cloud computing company SuccessFactors in 2011, as well as GE Healthcare’s $1bn acquisition of NASDAQ-listed Vital Signs in 2008.

He also worked on Elster Group’s $2.3bn takeover by Melrose in 2012 and Misys’ sale of its Diagnostic Information Business to Vista Equity Partners.

Other new joiners to Latham’s global corporate department in the past year include Linklaters’ German partners Nikolaos Paschos and Rainer Traugott.

The US firm also recruited from A&O in London earlier in 2017, taking corporate partner Ed Barnett and finance partner Stephen Kensell.

A&O has been recruiting heavily in the New York market in the past year, prioritising growth in the finance practice. It took on four lateral partners to its finance team. The three laterals were from White & Case and Proskauer Rose, while Milbank associate Todd Koretzky also made the move.

Months later, the magic circle firm also hired from Paul Hastings finance group, recruiting former head of leveraged finance Bill Schwitter, alongside partners Michael Chernick and Jeffrey Pellegrino.

Former A&O US senior partner Kevin O’Shea nevertheless left the firm for Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy along with two real estate partners last November. The departure saw litigation head Tim House relocate to the US as the firm’s new senior partner this year.