In one fell swoop, Akin Gump this week radically transformed its City office from relative obscurity into a sizeable City player by taking on one of the largest ever teams of lateral partners. And from a mark-leading practice, no less.

Yesterday (17 September), the firm announced it had hired 22 partners from Bingham McCutchen, including the bulk of the firm’s London and Frankfurt offices and two partners from Bingham’s Hong Kong base.