International law firm Harneys has signed up five new lawyers for its Bermuda practice.

And the firm said it planned to expand its on-Island team further in the coming months.

Sarah-Jane Hurrion, Harneys’ managing partner, said: “Harneys’ growth in Bermuda reflects the increasing demand for the Bermuda product.

“We are seeing new avenues for business opening up in Bermuda and we are pleased to be a part of the effort to enhance Bermuda’s international reputation and build its economy.”

She added: “Harneys offers a great deal to the Bermuda legal market and I am delighted to welcome these five lawyers to our Bermuda team.

“We are committed to building a leading full-service Bermuda legal and fiduciary services practice.” Andrea Moniz-DeSouza, also the honorary consul of Portugal in Bermuda, has become a senior associate in the firm’s corporate practice.

Ms Moniz DeSouza specialises in the establishment, operation and regulation of investment funds and also has expertise in company and partnership formation, corporate restructuring and other areas of corporate work and finance, including the reinsurance and insurance sector. Alsha Wilson is an associate in the corporate practice and her areas include civil litigation, employment, labour, immigration, human rights, landlord-tenant disputes and personal injury.

Ms Wilson has an LLB from the University of Kent in England, and a BA in Law from Canada’s Carleton University.

Jayson Wood is a partner in Harneys Caymans operation and a registered associate in Bermuda. He has worked on several of the biggest and most complex liquidations, shareholder disputes and restructurings in the Caymans in recent years and has more than 20 years of experience in corporate and insolvency litigation.

Mr Wood is a specialist in hedge fund collapses, shareholder disputes, corporate fraud, receiverships and liquidations, asset preservation and corporate restructuring.

Tim Frith, who recently moved to Bermuda from Harneys’ office in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), has become counsel in the firm’s litigation practice. Mr Frith was Called to the Bar in BVI in 2015 and to the Bermuda Bar in 2013 and has appeared frequently in front of the Island’s Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. He has also worked in commercial arbitrations, mediations and regulatory work in Bermuda.

Mr Frith practised for 15 years at the England and Wales Bar, with a commercial and corporate practice built on extensive dispute resolution in Britain, Singapore, Jordan, Thailand and Malaysia.

And Matthew Watson has been appointed a registered associate. He practised in Australia, where he worked on several high-profile cases at both state and federal court levels, is experienced in corporations law, disclosure and director obligations, fraud, shareholder and partnership disputes and other areas of commercial law.

Harneys, which opened in Bermuda in October after it merged with Island firm Hurrion & Associates, now employs 22 people, including nine lawyers.