Weil Gotshal & Manges has raided the Paris arms of magic circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and New York’s Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton to boost its local tax and competition practices.

The top 10 US firm is taking a three-lawyer competition team from Freshfields, led by senior associate Cyrille Couadou, who becomes a partner and French head of competition. Couadou will be joined by two Freshfields lawyers, who are both joining Weil Gotshal at associate level.