Departures force Landwell to rejig financial services

Martin Cornish and Simon Firth have both left the practice, leaving the financial services group with just one partner, Laura Cox. Both Cornish and Firth were partners in niche financial services firm MW Cornish & Co before it became associated with PwC in 1997.
Firth has left to join the London office of Washington firm Wilmer Cutler & Pickering, while Cornish has decided to work three days a week and will stay on at Landwell as a consultant.
The departures have prompted a reorganisation at Landwell which has moved banking partner Celia Gardiner in with Cox, combining the financial services group with the financial institutions practice. Gardiner joined from Norton Rose last year, where she was a senior lawyer.
At Wilmer Cutler, Firth will be the first European member of the firm's securities regulatory group. He advises on the establishment and regulation of all types of investment funds and deals with broad financial services regulatory issues.
Firth will head the new European investment management practice, as the firm's London office currently specialises in aviation, telecoms, corporate and international disputes resolution.
Stephen Mostyn-Williams, business development director at Landwell, said: "We're very sorry to see Simon go. He's a great guy, but he wants to try his luck with the Americans. Martin decided for personal reasons that he wanted to cut down his level of commitment and go onto three days a week, and so as part of that he's moved onto a consultancy basis.
"We hope that our refiguring of the financial services practice will mean that it will continue to grow."
The group acts on regulatory and investment management/funds work, with clients in the securities, commodities, derivatives and foreign exchange broker and dealer markets.