Greenwoods partners Bilal Mirza and Simon Lindsey are set to leave the firm before Keoghs’ upcoming acquisition of sister company Plexus Law, The Lawyer understands.

Lindsey and Mirza are set to join insurance litigation specialist Horwich Farrelly before the Keoghs deal is finalised. It is also understood that up to 30 lawyers will be joining the duo at Horwich Farrelly from Greenwoods’ office in Southampton.

Greenwoods merged with Plexus in 2013 and is now part of Parabis Law LLP, although it continues to trade under its own name.

Plexus’ sale is expected imminently after it emerged that business advisory firm AlixPartners has been working with the firm to restructure its business. At the same time it also emerged that a petition to wind up the business of Plexus was filed on 9 October. The petition was scheduled to be heard at the Companies Court on 16 October but was subsequently withdrawn.

AlixPartners and Plexus were unavailable for comment.

Plexus was one of the first law firms to apply for ABS status following the introduction of the Legal Services Act in 2012. After receiving its ABS status the firm received backing from private equity investor Duke Street, which also injected a further £13m into the business last year.

However, earlier this week Private Equity News reported that Duke Street had written down its €30m (£21.4m) investment in the firm to zero.

Greenwoods has already lost two partners to Horwich Farrelly this year after personal injury specialists Karen Mann and Jason Spencer joined the firm in September.

In March Plexus also lost a team of 13 travel lawyers to insurance firm Kennedys. The team also included senior partner Claire Mulligan and partner Justin Collins.