Reed Smith partner Phillip Slater has joined Morrison & Foerster (MoFo) in London, three weeks after exiting his old firm.

Slater, who previously led Reed Smith's acquisition and leveraged finance practice in London, practices across a number of areas, including acquisition finance, leveraged finance and corporate banking.

He joined Reed Smith in 2009 from Addleshaw Goddard.

Last Thursday, Legal Week reported Slater had left Reed Smith's finance practice at the end of January, prior to the recruitment of Travers Smith finance partner Ben Davis.

At the time, EMEA financial industry group vice-chair Nola Beirne said she did not know whether Slater would be heading to another firm.

While at Reed Smith, Slater acted on several significant mandates, including winning the firm's first instruction to act for the Co-operative Group on its £950m debt refinancing in 2012. He also advised Telecity Group on all aspects of its £400m secured corporate debt refinancing.

"The addition of another finance partner in one of the world's key financial centres is a crucial step in the overall strategic development of the financial transactions group," commented practice chair Jill Feldman, who said the firm had seen an upsurge in requests for English law finance guidance in Asia.

"Phil's arrival allows us to provide this service to clients," said Jill H. Feldman, chair of Morrison & Foerster's Financial Transactions Group.

Slater said MoFo's profile and collegiate culture made it the "perfect choice".

The hire follows the appointment of former Dentons chief executive Howard Morris, who resurfaced at MoFo in November as a senior of counsel in the firm's business restructuring and insolvency practice.