Barlow Lyde & Gilbert is set for more departures with two City partners quitting the firm to join CMS Cameron McKenna.

Insurance specialists Mike Munro and James Parker will join the financial services and capital markets team at Camerons, with a start date yet to be confirmed.

Munro, the former head of Barlows' corporate and commercial practice, was recently replaced in the role by partner Simon Gamblin.

Munro's practice focuses on insurance, reinsurance and structured risk, while he also advises on disputes in the sector. Parker advises on financial services M&A and risk transfer solutions in the insurance and reinsurance markets.

The news comes after Barlows recently overhauled the structure of its practice groups, merging its litigation and arbitration practice with its professional and financial disputes group.

A number of other partners have also recently left the firm, including commercial disputes head Julian Randall, litigation partner Andrew Howell and financial services head Tim Strong, who last month joined Taylor Wessing, and London head of international arbitration Peter Flint, who quit the firm to join Wragge & Co in September.

The hires of Munro and Parker follow a Camerons practice group overhaul earlier this year which saw the technology litigation, financial services and competition groups join the insurance and reinsurance group with the litigators from banking and capital markets to focus on the financial services sector.

The move created a new 255-fee earner practice group known as commercial, regulatory and disputes (CRD), bringing together non-contentious and contentious teams with complementary skills across the financial services sector. The group currently has 43 partners.

CRD head Liam O'Connell said: "We have a clear strategic focus on the financial services, capital markets and insurance sectors and see continued convergence between them. As a firm, we are committed to further co-ordinating, strengthening and broadening our offering to clients operating in these markets and these new hires are a significant step towards this goal."

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