Latham & Watkins has raided Clifford Chance's (CC) private equity practice for the second time this year with the hire of Tom Evans as partner.

Evans joins just months after CC private equity chief and key Carlyle relationship partner David Walker made the switch.

While at CC, Evans focused on domestic and international transactional work for private equity clients, including CVC Capital Partners, and was tipped as a future star at the firm after being made partner in April.

His appointment is the fourth lateral hire for Latham in London since May. Aside from Walker, the firm has added Norton Rose Fulbright's former head of derivatives Dean Naumowicz, as well as Simon Bushell, former co-chair of corporate fraud at Herbert Smith Freehills.

Excluding Evans, Latham now lists 13 partners engaged in private equity work in London.

One of those, office managing partner Nick Cline, said Evans is "widely regarded as a rising star and has a broad range of experience".

"While we have seen improvements in liquidity in European leveraged finance bank lending, accessing the high yield and US bank finance markets is increasingly attractive for European private equity deals.

"We have a very strong global platform and a leading financing practice that presents exciting opportunities for us to grow our top tier private equity practice."

News of Walker's move to Latham first broke in April this year, and drew parallels with the departure of former CC corporate heavyweight Adam Signy, who quit the City firm to join US outfit Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in 2009.

In 2011 CC lost the bulk of its City funds practice when a four-partner team left to join Weil Gotshal & Manges in London. The departures of funds partners Ed Gander, Nigel Clark and Nick Benson and tax partner Jonathan Kandel left CC with just one City funds partner, Nigel Hatfield, at the time.