Only a few weeks before Bryan Cave finalizes its cross-border merger with the U.K.’s Berwin Leighton Paisner, partner Elizabeth Kemery Sipes in Denver is peeling off for Perkins Coie.

Sipes, the former co-leader of Bryan Cave’s private funds practice, joined Bryan Cave as counsel in 2013 after more than a half-dozen years in-house at publicly traded investment firm Janus Capital Group Inc. Asked about her now former firm’s pending merger with Berwin Leighton, which is set to go live on March 31, Sipes said she is positive about its prospects but noted that her move had little to do with the combination.