SJ Berwin has been rocked by the departure of three partners from its highly-rated funds team to Kirkland & Ellis's London office.

Private equity partners Mark Mifsud, Richard Watkins and Justin Dolling are all leaving SJ Berwin for the US firm, giving Kirkland a significant foothold in the UK funds market.

Mifsud is considered one of the 20-strong team's leading names, while Watkins was made up to partner in 2004. Dolling was promoted to partner last year.

SJ Berwin's funds team is widely viewed as being one of the two leading teams in the City alongside Clifford Chance (CC). It is also regarded as one of the firm's strongest teams. Clients of the team include Apax Partners, Bridgepoint and Candover.

Senior partner and head of European private equity Jonathan Blake, said: "We will be sorry to see them go, but when you have a European team of 20 partners, it is inevitable that, from time to time, some will be attracted by new opportunities elsewhere."

Kirkland has been aggressively recruiting in the private equity field, recruiting Graham White and Raymond McKeeve from Linklaters in March 2006 and the following month it added leveraged finance partner Stephen Gillespie from Allen & Overy.

CC head of funds Jason Glover commented: "A year ago SJ Berwin's three dominant names were Jonathan Blake, Blair Thompson and Mark Mifsud. Blake is now senior partner, Thompson joined [client] TDR and Mifsud has now left. The star in the junior ranks was Watkins, so it is a massive blow for SJ Berwin."

He added: "The key will be the portability of their client base as I would not put Kirkland in the top rank of funds advisers."