Hunton & Williams has made nine job cuts in London, following a raft of partner exits which have seen lawyer headcount in the US firm's City base shrink by over 60% in just three months.

The redundancies, which comprise one of counsel, two associates and six secretarial and support staff, come after five energy and corporate partners left for rival US firms earlier this year following a strategic refocusing in the office.

The US firm has now seen London lawyer headcount shrink by more than 60% between the middle of April and the end of June. The City base, which had 36 lawyers in April, is left with around 14 following a series of exits including around a dozen associates.

Hunton – which now has seven remaining City partners – will focus primarily on data protection and banking and finance in London, with corporate and energy & infrastructure each housing just one partner after the strategic overhaul.

London managing partner Bridget Treacy commented: "These are the only redundancies made by the London office and they are a natural consequence of the recent departure of several energy and corporate partners. We very much regret that we could not find new roles for the affected individuals."

Recent Hunton departures have included corporate partner Paul Tetlow and senior associate James Green, who left to join the City arm of K&L Gates alongside two corporate associates, while energy partners Matthew Williams and John Deacon joined Hogan Lovells in March along with a team of six associates.

Former London managing partner Martin Thomas and fellow corporate partner Dearbhla Quigley, meanwhile, left to join Chadbourne & Parke's City office.

Chadbourne has also recently recruited of counsel Danny Heathwood, who worked alongside Thomas and Quigley at Hunton, as well Erin Callahan, who joins from the International Bar Association (IBA) in London.

Callahan, who served as deputy director and head of the legal projects team at the IBA in London, joins Chadbourne as a corporate partner.