Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has seen the departure of another senior partner, with the firm's global co-head of arbitration Charles Kaplan leaving to join Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe.

Kaplan, who is based in Paris, is top ranked by Chambers and Partners for international arbitration in France. He left HSF yesterday (30 April) and will join Orrick's Paris office as a partner in the coming weeks.

He has been at the firm for 16 years and helped to build its Paris office, and has since 2008 shared the leadership of the firm's global arbitration practice with London partner Paula Hodges. Hodges will now take over as the firm's sole head of global arbitration.

His move marks the latest partner exit from HSF, which has seen a stream of departures in recent months, the latest being financial regulatory partner Tim Mak, who is joining Freshfields in Hong Kong.

News of Mak's move came after the departures of financial regulatory duo Martyn Hopper and Nikunj Kiri, who are both joining Linklaters, and senior litigation partners Kevin Lloyd and Ted Greeno, who are moving to Debevoise & Plimpton and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan respectively.

Meanwhile, Latham & Watkins this February sealed the hire of HSF corporate fraud partner Simon Bushell, the co-chair of the firm's London corporate fraud and asset-tracing practice, while other high-profile departures to US firms in recent months have included corporate partner Will Pearce to Davis Polk & Wardwell.

"We're excited about Charles joining our arbitration practice in Paris," said Bob Sills, co-head of Orrick's international arbitration and litigation practice. "The group led by Laurent Jaeger is already very strong, and Charles adds vast experience and a top flight reputation to them and to Orrick's worldwide arbitration practice."

HSF said in a statement: "Charles has made an important contribution to our global arbitration practice and our Paris office. We thank Charles for his contribution and wish him all the best for the future."