CC New York arm sees departure of five corporate partners so far this year as US cutbacks continue

Clifford Chance (CC) has seen five partners leave its New York corporate practice this year, it has emerged.
Corporate partners Helayne Baron, Karl Roessner, Sara Hanks, Earl Zimmerman and Richard Pritz have all departed from the law firm’s 20-partner New York corporate practice since the beginning of the year.

Zimmerman, Roessner and Pritz sat within the firm’s US M&A practice, Baron was a capital markets partner and Hanks worked across corporate finance. Zimmerman has joined US firm Sutherland as a corporate partner, while Roessner has joined online trading company E-Trade as general counsel and executive vice-president.

It is unclear where the other three partners have gone or whether any of the departures are part of the magic circle firm’s far-reaching restructuring.

The departures follow the exit of M&A partner and former Rogers & Wells chairman David Bernstein, who joined K&L Gates earlier this year after nearly 20 years with CC and legacy firm Rogers & Wells.

The corporate partner exits come in the wake of a spate of partner departures from CC’s New York litigation practice, with nine going since the beginning of the year.

The firm has also made associate redundancies, with 24 transactional lawyers leaving in March and up to 10 litigation associates set to be laid off this month.

Clifford Chance on the Legal Week Wiki