Pinsents lures City partners to beef up practice

Pinsent Curtis has lured three partners from City firms as part of a major drive to beef up the practice after a stream of departures in the last year.

The Birmingham firm has been hit by several high profile resignations since its creation by the merger of Pinsents and Simpson Curtis in May 1995.

The new recruits are Andrew Pike, a construction specialist, who joined from Simmons & Simmons this week; Tom Whiteside, from Dibb Lupton Broomhead's Leeds office, who has been working in the property department; and David Levin, a corporate partner with Lovell White Durrant.

Senior partner Julian Tonks believes it is significant that the three new partners - who take the firm's total to over 100 for the first time - are joining from top City practices. "It is a measure of how we are viewed by the market," he said.

Tonks admitted it had been a difficult 12 months since the merger but insisted the firm was now on the up. He said the firm had "a very active year ahead".

Between August 1995 and April of this year, Pinsents lost eight partners, including Gary O'Brien, who joined Eversheds.

But the firm hit back last month when it poached top franchise lawyer John Chambers from the Norwich office of Eversheds.