Goodwin Procter has made a double partner hire in Washington DC to strengthen its global trade and cybersecurity practices.

Government contracts lawyer Liza Craig joins the global trade practice from Reed Smith, while Kaylee Cox Bankston joins the firm’s data, privacy and cybersecurity practice from Los Angeles-based AmLaw 200 firm Manatt Phelps & Phillips, where she was a counsel.

Craig’s practice focuses on all aspects of government procurement, from proposal preparation and submissions to dispute resolution, contract compliance and contract termination.

Richard Matheny, chair of Goodwin’s global trade practice, said: “Liza’s significant experience advising on complex, high-value government contracts will be incredibly beneficial to our clients.”

Craig spent just over three years at Reed Smith – her first role in private practice – becoming a partner at the start of this year. She previously spent a year as acquisition counsel to the chief of Naval Operations and before that almost two years as supervisory associate counsel for acquisition at SPAWAR (now known as the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command). Prior to that she spent almost six years in a similar role at the Naval Sea Systems Command, among other legal roles in military-related procurement units. She started her career at the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Bankston’s practice, meantime, focuses on a range of cybersecurity matters, including cyber risk assessments, incident response and security counselling and advising corporate boards on cyber governance and risk management.

Boris Segalis, a partner in the firm’s cybersecurity practice, said: “As the growing sophistication and volume of cyber incidents increase risks for clients, they continue to turn to us for strategic incident preparedness and response across a complex global regulatory environment. Kaylee’s extensive experience with cyber counselling, investigations and litigation brings invaluable support to our clients.”

Bankston spent just over three years as counsel at Manatt Phelps & Phillips, having previously spent almost five years at Holland & Knight as senior counsel and co-chair of its cybersecurity practice.

Other firms looking to grow their cybersecurity and data privacy practices in the US include Baker McKenzie, which made two partner hires in July as part of an ongoing programme of expansion and McDermott Will & Emery which secured a highly-regarded trio of privacy and cybersecurity lawyers in Brussels and Washington DC from US rival Squire Patton Boggs in April.

Recent lateral moves in Washington include tech litigation specialist Stephen Palley who joined Brown Rudnick from Anderson Kill at the start of this month and financial crimes defence lawyer Adam Klauder, who joined Squire from consultancy firm Guidehouse in late August.