Travers Smith has lost corporate rainmaker Phil Sanderson to Ropes & Gray, less than two months after he stepped down as head of the firm’s private equity practice.

Sanderson (pictured), who trained at Travers and has been a partner since 2001, had been head of the firm’s private equity practice since 2008 before handing the reins to Paul Dolman in a shake-up of senior leadership at the beginning of July.