The London branch of US litigation leader Shook Hardy & Bacon has lost three senior litigation partners to US IP specialist Howrey Simon Arnold & White – the first partner departures from the firm since its transatlantic merger with UK firm Arnander Irvine & Zietman (AIZ) last summer.

The three – former name partner James Irvine, Charles Pugh and Geoffrey Gauchi – were all from the AIZ side of the merger, leaving the firm with just seven legacy UK partners.