Hammonds lose third partner to Hunton & Williams

Hammonds has suffered again at the hands of Hunton & Williams, losing its third partner to the US firm –the 16th partner to quit the firm since January 2004.

Jonathan Marsh will rejoin his former partners Martin Thomas and John Deacon at Hunton on 1 March after just two years at Hammonds, where he is a corporate partner and the head of the financial services market group.

His past experience has spanned in-house roles at the Securities & Futures Authority, the precursor to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) as well as the London Metals Exchange.

Marsh’s move follows the news revealed on www.thelawyer.com earlier this week (16 February) that Patrick Mitchell, formerly a corporate partner at Hammonds in Leeds and until 2003 the head of finance, joined Cobbetts on 1 February. Mitchell is the third partner to defect from Hammonds to the regional firm this year, following James Bessey and Mark Robinson.

The latest departures brings to 16, the total number of partners to have left the firm since January 2004, including seven in 2005. At the beginning of February the firm announced a 12 per cent cut in partner drawings as a result of an anticipated profit drop.

Hammonds' managing partner Peter Crossley said: "We are very disappointed that Jonathan has decided to leave, but we we wish him well."