Norton Rose in four-partner Oz swoop

Norton Rose has scooped three partners from Australian firm Clayton Utz and one from an in-house position as it beefs up its capacity down under.

The firm has snatched funds partner John Moutsopoulos, who heads Clayton Utz’s financial services group and co-heads its investment funds team. Financial services partner Zein El Hassan and tax partner Paul Humphreys also join the firm, which merged with Australian outfit Deacons at the beginning of last year.

Tessa Hoser joins the Sydney banking team from the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation, Australia’s credit agency, where she was general counsel. Hoser was previously a partner at Australian firm Freehills.

The UK-based firm has now made 16 lateral hires since the merger went live on 1 January 2010.

Global deputy CEO Don Boyd, who stands down as Norton Rose Australia managing partner at the end of this year, said in a statement: “The appointments are an important strategic fit for us as we focus on accelerating the development of our key financial institutions business in Asia Pacific growth markets and across the globe.”

The timescale of the moves is not currently known.