Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe has hired a group of London and Moscow-based corporate finance lawyers from embattled US firm Dewey & LeBoeuf, including Moscow partner duo Leo Batalov and Dmitry Gubarev.

Batalov and Gubarev are joining Orrick's Moscow office alongside a team of associates. The group focuses on corporate finance transactions, M&A, securities law and general corporate work.

Orrick is also taking on a number of London corporate finance associates for its City base, with the hires coming after London associates were told they would not be paid beyond the end of May.

Global managing partner Alexander Janes commented: "[The team] provides excellent synergies with our finance and corporate practices and map to our strategy of strategically growing our finance and corporate capabilities, particularly in the technology-led emerging company sector."

The remaining six partners in Dewey's Moscow office – led by corporate heavyweight Brian Zimbler – have all opted for a move to US rival Morgan Lewis & Bockius, alongside Dewey's sole Almaty partner Aset Shyngyssov.

Morgan Lewis also hired a total of six partners from Dewey's London office, among them London managing partner Peter Sharp and banking chair Bruce Johnston – both members of the office's 'crisis committee', which is now left with three partners. The team is currently assessing options for an orderly wind-down of the UK business alongside BDO.

Separately, Orrick is also in talks to take on Dewey's recently launched Johannesburg base, which is led by mining partner Morne van der Merwe and banking partner Wildu du Plessis. The US firm is understood to be assessing whether it wants to acquire the eight-partner team, which joined Dewey in January this year from South African Werksmans.

Recent departures from Dewey's international network have left the firm with two small offices in Hong Kong and Beijing, as well as a highly-regarded team in the Polish capital of Warsaw. Meanwhile, the rapidly shrinking firm's Italian operations are set to split off to operate as an independent law firm.