Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) City partner Peter McGowan is set to leave the firm to join Proskauer Rose.

McGowan will start at Proskauer's London office next week after six years as a partner in BLP's financial services and funds practice.

He specialises in funds structuring across the retail, real estate and hedge fund sectors, and will join the US firm's corporate and transactional group.

McGowan said: "The main reason for my move is Proskauer's strong background in investment management work and its desire to develop that area further. We share some of my major clients and the opportunity to play a lead role in the development of the financial services practice, in conjunction with the asset management practice, was too good to turn down."

Prior to joining BLP in 2005, McGowan was a partner at Clifford Chance for seven years.

The news follows last month's announcement of the departure of a five-partner BLP team to Simmons & Simmons. John Hayward, Mark Waghorn, Robert Jones, Simon Kildahl and Richard Hughes are all set to join Simmons, marking a significant loss for BLP's finance practice.

Elsewhere, former BLP funds and financial services regulatory head Tim Simmonds joined Osborne Clarke's financial services team this week (20 June) as the firm's first dedicated funds partner. At BLP he worked with clients including HSBC, Legal & General, and The Royal Bank of Scotland.