You can almost hear the laughter pealing around Kempson House. Four years after Allen & Overy (A&O) inflicted a damaging raid on Norton Rose's acquisition finance team, A&O just cannot hold on to LBO partners.

With Stephen Gillespie now heading to Kirkland & Ellis, the suspicion must be that the arrival of the four-partner Norton Rose team in 2002 ultimately came at the price of more than the quartet's drawings. While undoubtedly a successful team for A&O, the upheaval of introducing such a tightly-knit group appears to have taken its toll on the magic circle firm's cohesion.

Aside from Gillespie, leveraged finance has lost Tony Keal and his protege Euan Gorrie to Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, while Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom last year recruited one of the younger Norton Rose four, Clive Wells. Meanwhile, A&O's wider banking team has continued to steadily leak UK partners to US firms. Gillespie, returning to major fee earning after several years spent primarily in a management role, may not be regarded as such a loss as Keal, but is the kind of serious and pragmatic lawyer the firm built its finance brand on.