US firm Proskauer Rose has hired a corporate law team from Shearman & Sterling in Paris, including a quartet of partners, as the firm seeks to grow its deals and private equity coverage in France.

The partners include Xavier Norlain, Jeremy Scemama, Maud Manon and Matthieu Lampel alongside a team of 15, who all bring extensive experience in private and public M&A, leveraged finance and restructuring. They regularly advise private equity firms, banks and alternative lenders, services groups and management teams.

Steven Ellis, Proskauer’s chairman, said: “[The team’s] stellar market reputation and substantial experience will further enhance our private capital practice. France is of strategic importance to the private equity industry, and we are committed to continuing to build our platform to support the growing needs of our client base.”

Norlain joins after just under two years at Shearman, where he was head of the firm’s Paris office. He previously spent almost a decade at DLA Piper, where he was head of its French corporate practice group and then co-country managing partner of the Paris office. Before that he worked at Frieh Bouhenic and its predecessor firm Frieh & Associés before it merged with DLA Piper. He also had spells at Latham & Watkins and Willkie Farr & Gallagher.

Scemama and Lampel have been with Norlain since their Frieh & Associés days, while Manon – who was Shearman’s deputy Paris office head – went back even further to their days at Latham. She also worked at Linklaters, Ashurst and White & Case, while Lampel also had a spell at Linklaters, though after Manon’s time there.

Steven Davis, co-head of Proskauer’s M&A practice and London office, said: “The arrival of Xavier, Jeremy, Maud and Matthieu is of great value to our burgeoning strategic M&A and private equity offering. As we continue to evolve our transactional platform, we are delighted to grow both our presence in Paris with this high calibre team, as well as expand the cross-border work we do.”

The arrival of the former Shearman quartet takes the firm’s number of lateral partner hires this year to 14, half of which have been outside the US.

The team are also the latest exits from Shearman ahead of its planned merger with UK Magic Circle Allen & Overy, a vote on which is expected to start this week. The firm lost a team of four energy partners and a counsel to Ashurst in May, while there have been further partner exits to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and O’Melveny & Myers.

The departures leave Shearman with four partners in Paris amid a wider team of 27 lawyers, according to its website.