Ashurst corporate partner Jonathan Earle has quit the firm to join the London office of US outfit Gibson Dunn & Crutcher.

Earle, whose start date is yet to be decided, has been a partner at Ashurst since 2008 and has acted on a number of public M&A deals, most recently leading for Interserve on its purchase of pest control giant Rentokil's facilities management business for £250m.

He also advised long-standing client William Hill on its £530m bid for gambling rival Sportingbet's Australian business.

Earle's exit follows that of private equity partner Karan Dinamani who left the firm in March to join former Ashurst head of corporate Stephen Lloyd at Allen & Overy.

The moves were sparked by a management reshuffle at Ashurst in October 2013 which saw former senior partner and private equity head Charlie Geffin lose out in a vote for the newly created chairman role to dispute resolution partner Ben Tidswell. 

Following Lloyd's departure Ashurst appointed Simon Beddow as co-head of the firm's global corporate, commercial and competition practice, working alongside Sydney-based co-head Phil Breden.

Last year Gibson Dunn made a spate of lateral hires including Ali Nikpay, head of the cartel and criminal enforcement division at the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), to head up its City competition practice.

In July, the US firm also appointed Hogan Lovells' energy head for South East Asia Brad Roach, in a move to bolster the firm's partner headcount in the wake of it receiving a Qualifying Foreign Law Practice (QFLP) licence.