Weil Gotshal & Manges has hired a highly-regarded five partner corporate team from Dewey & LeBoeuf's Silicon Valley office led by partner Richard Climan.

The sought after team, which also held talks with firms including Greenberg Traurig and Reed Smith, includes Silicon Valley-based corporate partners Keith Flaum, Jane Ross, Jim Griffin and John Brockland.

The partners started work in Weil's Silicon Valley office today (8 May) and are expected to be joined by a number of associates.

All five partners with the exception of Griffin, who joined Dewey last year from Fulbright & Jaworski, joined the embattled US firm in 2009 from Cooley Godward Kronish, now known as Cooley.

At the time Climan and Flaum joined in July that year alongside tech practice head Eric Reifschneider, their recruitment was seen as the most high profile lateral hires the Californian legal market had seen in years.

One Weil partner confirmed the hires stating: "This is a significant coup for the firm, considering the team is one of Dewey's best and several firms were competing for them."

The departures take the US firm's partner exodus beyond 110, including Reifschneider, who announced last month that he would be leaving for an in-house role at Qualcomm.

News of the latest US departures comes as Dewey & LeBoeuf's Italian arm prepares to leave the firm and relaunch as an independent outfit.

The Milan and Rome offices, which comprise 18 partners according to Dewey's website, will separate from Dewey and operate as a standalone firm under a name yet to be decided.

None of the partners have formally resigned however they have reached "unanimous consent" to spin-off according to one Italian partner.

Some partners have suggested that the new name could include reference to some of the firm's best-known partners in Italy, such as local head Bruno Gattai; however one Dewey Italy partner said an entirely new name was more likely.

The decision ends weeks of speculation about the fate of Dewey's Italian arm, which had initially been linked with firms including White & Case.

According to one Dewey Italian partner the offices have no debt and are wholly responsible for their own leases and employees, making the breakaway more easily achievable.

Separately it has emerged that Dewey's Beijing office is in talks with firms including McDermott Will & Emery and Winston & Strawn. The office, which has three partners according to the website, would gift McDermott an office in Beijing to work alongside its existing base in Shanghai, while Winston already has a presence in the city.

Dewey's Johannesburg office is also understood to be in talks with a number of US firms.

The news comes after the firm's Moscow and Almaty offices opted to move to Morgan Lewis & Bockius last week, along with six partners in London.

A further London partner, corporate specialist Simon Briggs, joined rival US firm Dechert today (8 May).

Briggs, who spent half his time in Dewey's New York office, works closely with the London and Dubai-based emerging markets team – led by Camille Abousleiman – that joined Dechert from Dewey last month.

The recent departures leave Dewey with around nine full-time partners in London, where partners are working with BDO and are in the process of trying to wind down the office.