Norton Rose loses international arbitration head to Winston

The exits follow a line of departures from Norton Rose’s London office in the past year.

Tirado, who heads the UK firm’s international arbitration and alternative dispute resolution practice, is currently involved in a major arbitration case for a client and will join Winston’s City base when it is completed.

Abraham, meanwhile, is a litigation and arbitration partner at Norton Rose specialising in construction, energy and engineering.

Tirado has long been linked with a move away from Norton Rose, with the departure following a number of partner-level arbitration moves among firms in London.

Norton Rose litigation and disputes head Deirdre Walker said in a statement: “We can confirm that Joe and Steve have retired from the practice. We wish them all the best for their future careers.

“Pierre Bienvenu continues to lead the arbitration practice as global head of arbitration. In the last year we have developed our practice in Europe, with significant growth in London, Frankfurt and Moscow, and our highly rated arbitration practice in Asia has gone from strength to strength.

“Worldwide, our litigation and arbitration capability has grown exponentially as a combined result of our international expansion in Canada, South Africa and Latin America, five lateral hires and 10 internal promotions to partner globally in the last year.

“There will be more good news to follow in Europe and Asia. The group now has over 500 litigation and dispute resolution specialists in 26 locations.”

Bakers London dispute head John Leadley said in a statement: “Steve is a great fit for us, both in terms of the type of work he does and his typical client base, as well as his geographic focus. He has had considerable success in managing the kinds of assignment that we regularly undertake and he will add further strength to the existing team.”

The exits follows the resignation of Antony Dutton, one of Norton Rose’s top litigators, earlier this year to join Dechert’s London outpost (5 January 2012).

The City firm has also seen exits in corporate in the past year, including most recently Julian Stanier, who left to join Berwin Leighton Paisner (3 September 2012).