Kirkland & Ellis corporate partner Christopher Braunack is to become the third partner from the firm's Hong Kong office to relocate to the City, when he joins the London base later this summer.

The move, which Legal Week understands is set to go ahead in August, follows news that the firm's high-profile head of private equity in Asia David Eich is to transfer to London in a bid to bolster the firm's corporate relationships in Europe.

A third partner, Ashley Young, also recently relocated to London to work alongside the firm's recent star hire – Weil Gotshal & Manges' banking head Stephen Lucas.

Braunack, an Australian solicitor who is qualified to practice in England and Hong Kong, advises international and local fund managers on the structuring of private equity funds, infrastructure funds and co-investment plans.

The move, which unlike Eich and Young is understood to be for personal reasons, is a return to London for Braunack, who was based in the City before being transferring to Hong Kong in 2010. He made partner at Kirkland a year after relocating to Asia.

Prior to Young's move in May, Kirkland's Hong Kong office had 23 partners, five of whom sit in the firm's international limited liability partnership (LLP).

In 2011, Eich helped lead a significant recruitment charge for Kirkland in Hong Kong, helping to secure the signings of eight partners including Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom's Asia corporate co-heads Nicholas Norris and Dominic Tsun and Latham & Watkins' vice global corporate chair and co-chair of Greater China David Zhang.

"When we're speaking to private equity clients, depth is increasingly important for them," a Kirkland source told Legal Week last month, in relation to Eich's move. "The Asian team has fully embedded itself out there, and are in a very strong position."

Kirkland declined to comment on Braunack's move, but said that it did not expect any more Hong Kong partners to make the move to London in the short term.