US partners quit prior to CC merger

Rogers & Wells has lost six partners in the run-up to its merger with Clifford Chance, The Lawyer can reveal.

Property partner Charles Rich has joined New York firm Bare Marx & Upham.

Tax specialist Thomas Avent moved to KPMG Atlanta, and technology expert Cynthia Khan has left to move to Florida.

Technology partner William Tannenbaum joined Kaye Scholer Fierman Hays & Handler earlier in the year.

Antitrust partner Richard Cirillo and corporate partner John Keitt left for King & Spalding and Dewey Ballantine respectively (The Lawyer, 21 June).

Rogers & Wells managing partner Larry Cranch says: "Those people left for different personal reasons and none of them had anything to do with the merger."

However, it is thought that Cirillo, Rich and Keitt believed their interests lay outside the new firm.