Morrison & Foerster has brought on private equity and mergers and acquisitions partner Omar Pringle from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

The partner hire in New York, announced Thursday, represents a second U.S. exit from Freshfields within weeks. Morrison & Foerster in April added Mitchell Presser, head of Freshfields' U.S. M&A and global transactions, to co-chair its global corporate department.

In announcing Pringle's hiring, Morrison & Foerster sought again to highlight its strategy to expand its corporate offerings, even amid a global pandemic. The firm said that Pringle is the third partner to recently join the New York office, after Presser and private funds partner Leonora Shalet from Schulte Roth & Zabel, and following eight partner hires in 2019.

In an interview, corporate department co-chair Eric McCrath said the firm is building out its corporate practice and its M&A and private equity sponsor capabilities. He said Pringle's experience in technology, life sciences and agricultural tech matched industries that "we do a lot of work in."

When asked about corporate demand in 2020, McCrath acknowledged the pandemic-induced downturn in activity but said "we're not [making this hire] because of the third or fourth quarter of 2020″ and the firm's "strategic vision" was based on long term needs for client relationships.

"I have every hope and ambition that Omar, like others, finishes his career with us," he said. "Yes, we're all obviously focused on and concerned about what's going to happen in the next year, but we're building this for a long term plan."

Morrison & Foerster has not implemented pay cuts for staff, attorneys or partners, McCrath confirmed Thursday, adding "no one knows the full duration" of the economic cycle.

Pringle advises both companies and financial sponsors on mergers and acquisitions, venture capital transactions and joint ventures. According to his former Freshfields profile, he has advised KLX Inc. on the $4.2 billion sale of its aviation parts and services business to the Boeing Co. and the spinoff of its energy services business; and advised Honeywell on its $5.1 billion acquisition of the Elster division of Melrose Industries, among other transactions for the company.

While Pringle worked closely with Presser at Freshfields, he said in an interview, his decision to join Morrison & Foerster goes well beyond his colleague's move. He said he was impressed with Morrison & Foerster's "strong roster" of clients, which intersect with his experience. "The opportunity to work with both private equity and corporate clients, backed by that industry experience, was quite compelling to me," Pringle said.

He said it was too early to say whether clients would join him at his new firm, adding right now, he was focused on integration and finding paths for opportunity.

Meanwhile, Freshfields' loss of two M&A partners in a short span runs up against its expansion goals in the U.S. Last year the firm added a large group of lawyers, including rainmaker Ethan Klingsberg, to strengthen its U.S. and corporate practices.

Freshfields had no immediate comment on Pringle's move.