Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer¹s London finance team has suffered one of its most turbulent weeks, after it emerged three partners are leaving the firm.
As exclusively revealed on legalweek.com (26 January), one of Freshfields¹ most senior finance partners, David Ereira, is leaving for magic circle adversary Linklaters, while structured finance partners Peter Green and Jeremy Jennings-Mares are to join the London office of Morrison & Foerster (MoFo).
Ereira, whose focus is primarily on acquisition finance, will join Linklaters on 1 May after the move was approved by a partnership vote. He is known to work closely with buy-out houses including top Freshfields client Apax.
Ereira, who became a partner in 1991, is understood to have told Freshfields about his intention to leave before Christmas.
Meanwhile, Green and Jennings-Mares are among the most significant hires that West Coast firm MoFo has made in its London arm and arrive in response to growing demand from the firm¹s New York clients for structured finance lawyers in London.
Commenting on the finance departures, one Freshfields insider said: ³We never had the option of becoming ‹ nor did we want to become ‹ a Clifford Chance or an Allen & Overy in London.
³When you are up against great big elephants like that, you have got to become as big as them to compete, but we never had that commitment as we were always focused on corporate and conflicts always played a role. What we are seeing now is a real focus on corporate.² The changes are significant as Freshfields had been making a concerted effort in recent years to boost the comparatively low profile of its finance practice.
The firm called in bluechip consultancy McKinsey and drew up a Œhit-list¹ of 10 banks to win work from. The firm had wanted to offer a broader finance service to clients, rather than relying on a number of niche areas.
However, following the return of big-ticket European M&A, the firm¹s efforts to boost finance have been less evident.
In addition to the recent departures, Freshfields has lost a number of finance partners across its network, including structured finance partner Ian Harvey-Samuel, who joined Shearman & Sterling¹s London office in December.
One partner at a magic circle rival commented: ³It is one thing to retrench core competencies when times are tough. To do it in the good times is different altogether. Was this a failed experiment that was eating up too many resources? Or has the profits drive and pro-corporate environment finally induced such a culture change that it was time for them to leave?²