Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft has boosted its London office with the hire of structured finance partner Stephen Day from fellow US firm Mayer Brown.

Day, who joined Mayer Brown in 2002 and made partner in 2008, specialises in a range of structured finance and securitisation transactions, with particular focus on complex cross border deals.

At Mayer Brown, Day advised the joint receivers of structured investment vehicle Golden Key, in addition to work with clients including EMI and Terra Firm Capital.

The news follows a string of high-profile Mayer Brown departures from the City, including Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy's poaching of City leveraged finance partner Neil Caddy earlier this month, corporate partner William Charnley, who left in July to King & Spalding, and Clare Canning's move to Ernst & Young to become head of global general counsel last year.

At the end of last year Simon Willis and Matthew Lawson, who joined Mayer Brown alongside Canning in 2007 from legacy Barlow Lyde & Gilbert, quit for the London office of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe. Co-head of capital markets Stephanie Bates also joined Orrick, while litigation partner Andrew Legg joined the London arm of Eversheds.

Other departures include James Dodsworth, a commercial real estate lawyer, who left the firm for White & Case, while real estate head Peter Sugden left to become managing partner of Katten Muchin Rosenman's London office.

Dominic Griffiths, Mayer Brown London banking and finance partner said: "We are committed to strengthening our London office, and have added a number of laterals in the past 12 months. We continue to look for opportunities to bring quality lawyers into Mayer Brown who meet our high expectations and who can add value to our areas of strategic focus."