Osborne Clarke gains Kemp's key IT partner

Osborne Clarke's London IT department has gained one partner and lost another this week.

The firm is poaching Clifford Chance-trained Ashley Winton, who helped to

set up Kemp & Co with Richard Kemp last year.

He is leaving because he says that a two-partner firm lacks the resources

and breadth of work that he wants to handle.

Winton says: "There are lots of things I could not do in a small firm.

"One of the things I want to focus on is e-commerce. I am better equipped

to do that at Osborne Clarke because of its resources.

"Kemp focuses on specialist IT work and a bit of telecoms. It does

e-commerce, but it is not full service."

However, celebrations at Osborne Clarke over the Winton coup have been

dampened by the loss of IT specialist David Schollenberger.

Schollenberger will become assistant general counsel at Choice Hotels

International in the US this week.

Choice Hotels has a franchise of more than 4,000 hotels in 33 countries.

Simon Rendell, head of IT and communications at Osborne Clarke, says: "It

is upsetting to see David go."

But he adds: "We have won Choice Hotels as a client now David is there,

and they are a huge hotel chain."

Schollenberger's departure follows the poaching by Field Fisher Waterhouse

of IT partner Nigel Wildish from Osborne Clarke in April.