Mayfair law firm Forsters has hired private client law firm Withers partner Charles Pike and senior associate Patrick Harney in a bid to increase its UK private client business by a factor of two, according to Legal Week. Mr Pike is expected to join in December 2007 as a partner. Mr Harney, dual UK and Irish-qualified lawyer and a tax specialist in Withers’ New York office, joined as a partner earlier this month. He will move to London where he will focus on Forsters’ important Irish client base. Forsters' managing partner Paul Roberts said: “London has increasingly become the centre for international wealth and there are an awful lot of opportunities coming up in the private client market.”