Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has lost the head of its water focus group with the departure of City partner John Hurdley to Bircham Dyson Bell.

The news comes after the news, reported by Legal Week, that BLP in set to complete a deal that will see Thames Water transfer the bulk of its in-house legal team to the City law firm. However, BLP stated that Hurdley’s departure was unrelated to those developments.