Not many british attorneys get their portraits etched on the front of The Wall Street Journal. Yet Maurice Allen did such a standout job of helping New York’s Weil, Gotshal & Manges build a London presence that he grabbed a page-one spot last year. Now Weil’s British cover boy has decamped with three other banking partners.

“(It’s) a big setback for Weil, Gotshal,” says the managing partner of one U.K. firm. “(Allen) is a smart bloke (and) a client-getter.”