Charles Russell has bulked up its employment and pensions team with the hire of Pinsent Masons employment partner Robert Mecrate-Butcher.

Mecrate-Butcher, who joined Pinsents in 2007, works across both contentious and non-contentious employment law, with a particular focus on advising clients in the insurance and banking sectors.

He specialises in TUPE advice, with his practice also 
covering diversity and equality issues, executive departures and the enforcement of restrictive covenants. The hire takes the combined employment and pensions group to 11 partners.

Charles Russell employment and pensions head Mike Powner said: "Mecrate-Butcher will further strengthen our reputation in the City as the go-to firm for high-end employment work."

The hire comes after Legal Week reported earlier this month (3 February) that Charles Russell had seen off competition from 34 law firms to win a first-time appointment as the exclusive regulatory legal adviser for Premiership Rugby.

The firm was appointed for a two-year term from January, with a mandate to look after the entirety of the sporting institution's regulatory 
legal requirements.