White & Case partner Paul Cowan is leaving to join 4 New Square as a barrister in the chambers' international arbitration, construction and disputes team.

Cowan (pictured), who heads to 4 New Square on Tuesday (6 May), has been a partner at White & Case since 2008, having re-qualified as a solicitor in 2004.

At his new set, Cowan will continue to work with White & Case on a number of current instructions. "It's not an exaggeration to say it's literally business as usual, and nobody wants any of that to change," he told Legal Week.

Called to the Bar in 1996, Cowan practiced at legacy One Paper Buildings, before moving to CMS Cameron McKenna and later Linklaters. At White & Case, he has balanced disputes and arbitration work alongside project development.

International arbitration mandates have included disputes arising from the construction of a high speed railway in Taiwan, land remediation works in Lebanon and the construction of a hydroelectric power plant in South America.

"We feel this is an exciting step in our continued growth and commitment to national and international construction work," said 4 New Square's senior clerk and chief executive Lizzy Stewart.

"His excellent reputation and experience in international work at White & Case will complement and enhance the strength of our existing offering."

"This is genuinely a positive move for positive reasons," Cowan added. "I've been at White & Case for eleven fantastic years, and it is with somewhat of a heavy heart that I am leaving.

"There is a strong part of me that always remains the Bar, and it really resonated when they approached me; I felt that this offer might not come again, or not come for some time."

In March, Peter Rees, the former legal chief of Shell, also returned to the Bar, joining 39 Essex Street after his stint in-house, and working as a solicitor at legacy Norton Rose and later Debevoise & Plimpton.

Other partners to have left White & Case's London office in recent months include former banking head Magdalene Bayim-Adomako, and Stephen Phillips, who moved to Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, where he now co-heads the firm's European restructuring team with Paris partner Saam Golshani.