Fifth London partner quits Cadwalader

New York firm Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft is losing its fifth London partner this year, to rival Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy.

Before joining Cadwalader in 1997, corporate tax partner Russell Jacobs was head of the structured finance unit at Wilde Sapte.

His move follows fellow ex-Wilde Sapte capital markets partner John Walker, who left Cadwalader for Milbank two months ago (The Lawyer, 17 May 2000).

His departure will leave the London office with just four partners, although Paul Biggs from CMS Cameron McKenna is due to join in August.

Tom Siebens, Milbank Tweed's head of capital markets, says: "We are very pleased that this has happened because of the demand that we have had for tax capability here - both UK and cross border.

"Russell works with a mixed client base, mostly structuring and securitisation related clients."

Siebens says that he expects that some of Jacobs' clients will follow him, but says the firm will be able to keep him busy with its own demand for his services.

This year, Cadwalader has lost financial restructuring partner James Roome to Bingham Dana, partner-in-charge Paul Griffin to Herbert Smith while capital markets partner James Starky went in-house.