Clifford Chance’s (CC’s) decision to relocate respected corporate partner Matthew Cahill from Tokyo to beef up its London securitisation practice should be carefully watched by the firm’s London rivals.

Despite only becoming a partner in 1999, Cahill was already well established among the tight knit bunch of foreign securitisation specialists operating out of Japan – being held in high regard by bulge bracketers Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs, and in particular Morgan Stanley.