Dewey & LeBoeuf's London managing partner Peter Sharp has agreed a deal to take a team of City litigation partners to Morgan Lewis & Bockius, while US corporate heavyweight Morton Pierce is joining White & Case along with seven other partners.

Sharp, who resigned from Dewey this morning, will be joined at Morgan Lewis's City base by fellow London litigation partners David Waldron – who co-chairs both the firm's litigation group outside of the US and the energy litigation practice group – and Nick Greenwood.

Sharp (pictured), who led the London office of legacy LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & McRae before its merger with Dewey Ballantine in 2007, has been in charge of the firm's combined City base for over two years.

His practice focuses on insolvency and financial institutions litigation in sectors including insurance and reinsurance, aviation and engineering. Earlier this week he was appointed to a five-member crisis management committee charged with overseeing the wind-down of the UK limited liability partnership.

Meanwhile, a White & Case partnership vote confirmed Pierce's move to the firm this afternoon alongside a team of seven other partners including Denise Cerasani.

Pierce, a member of Dewey's executive committee, has been involved in a raft of big-ticket M&A deals during his career to date, including Walt Disney's $4bn (£2.5bn) acquisition of Marvel Entertainment and the multibillion-dollar merger of Wells Fargo and First Interstate Bank.

He led Dewey Ballantine through the firm's 2007 merger with LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae, when LeBoeuf chair Steven Davis took over the combined firm.

One White & Case partner commented: "The process has been fast-tracked because of the circumstances. This opportunity meant we had to move quickly."

Pierce told The Am Law Daily that he is leaving because of "what's happening at the firm that you can read about in the papers and the blogs daily."

"I've had 26 great years at Dewey," he said. "It's been a great place for me. It's a very sad day for me to leave the firm and to leave behind a lot of great people."In a memo sent out yesterday White & Case chairman Hugh Verrier said: "Two of our strategic priorities have been to strengthen our global M&A practice and expand our New York office.

"These new partners will help us achieve both of these priorities. With extensive experience in public M&A and representing investment banks, they will increase the breadth and depth of our global M&A practice."

The news comes after a raft of London departures this week including Nabil Khodadad, the co-head of Dewey's project finance and infrastructure practice, who has joined Vinson & Elkins along with local partner Andrew Neiland.

London projects partner Jim Simpson and Abu Dhabi partner Stephen Jurgenson have agreed a deal to join US firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, while tax partner Julio Castro is joining KPMG and Stephen Walters has resigned from the firm.

Dewey's firmwide management recently issued a memo telling its remaining partners that they are under no obligation to stick with the firm in its current state and encouraging them to "seek out alternative opportunities".

Separately, SNR Denton has confirmed that it is in talks with Dewey with a view to taking on "strong, profitable parts" of the firm. An internal memo sent out yesterday confirmed SNR Denton's intention to add teams of lawyers from Dewey, which has seen around 90 partner departures globally since January and is currently renegotiating its bank facilities.