Tim Pharoah, who sits in Slaughters’ general corporate and financing group, is on a long-term secondment to investment bank Morgan Stanley.
The decision to second Pharoah, who made partner last year, is part of a drive by Slaughters to increase its links with the bank — a longstanding client of the firm.
It represents an unusual move for Slaughters, which has only rarely made partner-level secondments to date. It previously sent Gary Eaborn to the bank shortly after he was promoted in 1999, while David Watkins was, until recently, seconded to the Takeover Panel for two years.
Practice partner David Frank said: “This is part of our private equity initiative. Sending lawyers on secondments is a good way to strengthen relationships.”
Slaughters’ move comes against a wider backdrop of leading firms reporting increasing demand for secondees to banks and other clients, many of whom are facing hiring freezes or job losses in their internal teams.
Norton Rose head of banking Stephen Parish said: “There is a direct correlation between the downturn in the market and banks looking for secondees. They are looking at controlling overheads and they can achieve this by putting in secondees.”
Banks have increasingly begun insisting on set numbers of secondees as part of panel agreements, with HSBC, for example, estimating it took on around 50 lawyers for free from its panel firms last year.
Clifford Chance banking partner James Johnson added: “We have definitely increased the number. Previously we were turning down requests. Now the markets are quieter, we are obviously less busy.”
