Morgan Cole hit by double energy exit

The flailing London office of Morgan Cole has been depleted further with the departures of two energy heavy-hitters to Charles Russell.

Barrister Geoff Hewitt, a former in-house counsel at Saga Exploration, and assistant Gordon Clark, who previously worked at TXU, will join Charles Russell’s energy team as consultant and assistant respectively.

The news comes hard on the heels of the departure
of Morgan Cole’s former London corporate head Graeme Guthrie, who joined Campbell Hooper earlier this month, as first reported on www.thelawyer. com (2 April).

Hewitt joined Morgan Cole in 1999 after almost 20 years at Saga Exploration, prior to which he worked in the Department of Energy.

While at Morgan Cole Hewitt worked on a power project for the State of Lagos in Nigeria and has also acted for energy companies PetroKazakh-stan and Kerr-McGee Corporation.

Clark joined Morgan Cole in September 2002. Since that time he has led a team advising on a major outsourcing for BP.

Morgan Cole’s London office has been hit hard by departures. Last year Jonathan Cantor and Leslie Gascoine headed off with a team of assistants
to Portner & Jaskel. Meanwhile, Bleddyn Rhys, who was relocated to London to build up the office, is on a long-term secondment to the NHS.

Other losses last year included head of insolvency Steven Heffer to Collier-Bristow and Jack Czyzowski to Orchard.

The year before, the London office demerged from its insurance arm, which has relaunched as Fishburns.

It is thought that the firm currently has around 10 lawyers in London.