Linklaters’ burgeoning New York office is beefing up its corporate capability with the addition of London-based partner Andrew Mackie. The move is part of an overall aggressive US hiring policy aimed at relaunching its 30-year-old New York office.

Ten partners have joined the office since July 2003, including four from Shearman & Sterling and two from Latham & Watkins. Mackie, a corporate and M&A specialist, is one of the 32 new partners made up by Linklaters this year. He will begin his stint in early May.

Linklaters currently has three corporate partners out of a total of 16 in New York. They include restructuring specialist Mark Palmer, who said the firm was also in talks with several potential corporate laterals. “The negotiations are at a variety of stages, but in some cases they’re close to ripening,” he revealed.

Linklaters has been in New York since 1972, but only began its more aggressive strategy of organic growth in 2003 after it failed to find a suitable US merger partner.

The office currently has a total of 80 lawyers. It is taking two more floors in its Sixth Avenue offices next year and aims to have around 200 lawyers in New York by 2006.