Lovells is to lose its last London private equity partner, Marco Compagnoni, to US firm Weil Gotshal & Manges, marking a severe blow for the top 10 City firm.

Compagnoni will join Weil Gotshal in the coming months, along with associate Jonathan Wood and consultant Alison Hampton, after Weil's partnership voted through their appointment last night (1 February). The hire had been expected for weeks, but the official announcement was made after the trio handed in their notice this morning (2 February).

Compagnoni and Wood, who is thought to have been on track for partnership at Lovells this year, will both be joining Weil's London private equity group as partners. They will join former Travers Smith partner Mark Soundy, London managing partner Mike Francies and Will Rosen in the group. The hires take Weil Gotshal to 22 lawyers, including 10 partners, in London.

Compagnoni told Legal Week: "Weil is a fantastic firm with a great reputation in private equity and a great European capability. The world of private equity has changed; deal sophistication is different and you now need different capabilities. Lovells is a fantastic firm too, but the outside world has changed."

Recent deals for Weil's London private equity group include the Blackstone Group and Lion Capital's £1.27bn buy-out of Cadbury Schweppes' European drinks business, and Bridgepoint's $535m (£302m) bid for Environmental Resources Management from 3i.

Compagnoni has close relationships with some of Lovells' busiest clients, including the Barclay Brothers, 3i and Advent International and the departures will be seen as a major loss to Lovells, which last month lost London private equity partner Derek Baird to Allen & Overy.

Rome-based corporate finance partner Leah Dunlop will temporarily lead Lovells' global private equity practice while the firm looks to rebuild its team.