PwC Legal has seen its second partner departure of the week with the exit of corporate partner Oliver Williams to U.S. headquartered firm Katten Muchin Rosenman in London.
Williams joined PwC as a partner in its legal practice from DLA Piper in 2015. During his time at the Big Four firm, Williams specialised in private equity and M&A. He joins Katten’s corporate practice.
Earlier this week, CMS announced the hire of the head of PwC Legal’s U.K. real estate investment division, Amit Unadkt.
Like Williams, Unadkat joined PwC in 2015. He previously spent 13 years at Ashurst according to his LinkedIn profile.
The departures come in the wake of PwC’s ambitions to double the size of its U.K. legal business in the coming years. Earlier this year, Teresa Owusu-Adjei, PwC’s U.K. head of legal, said that the professional services giant’s board has signed off plans that will see a “huge amount of investment” in the firm’s U.K. legal business in the next three to four years.
Other Big Four firms have announced their own plans for growth – earlier this month, KPMG Law unveiled plans to more than double its headcount in the U.K. over the next three years.
The professional services firm currently employs 180 lawyers in the U.K.—but wants to add 220 lawyers by the end of 2024.
Despite ambitious plans for growth, other Big Four professional services firm have also seen departures in recent weeks in the U.K.
Earlier this month, Norton Rose Fulbright added EY partner duo, Alex Fortescue-Webb and Daniel Marks, to lead the firm’s legal managed services team across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
PwC was contacted for comment.
