Travers Smith has lost corporate rainmaker Phil Sanderson to Ropes & Gray, less than two months after he stepped down as head of the firm's private equity practice.

Sanderson (pictured), who trained at Travers and has been a partner since 2001, had been head of the firm's private equity practice since 2008 before handing the reins to Paul Dolman in a shake-up of senior leadership at the beginning of July.

His clients include UK-focused buyout houses Phoenix, Exponent and Darwin.

Last year, he led a team advising Exponent and a group of investors on the £450m sale of Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) to US buyout firm Providence Equity Partners. Sanderson previously led for Exponent when it financed ATG's takeover of 16 UK theatres in 2009.

When Sanderson stepped down as Travers' head of private equity earlier this summer, the firm downplayed the significance of the change, stressing that it was part of a strategy to keep the practices fresh by reshuffling management roles.

Earlier this year, Travers also lost junior funds partner Ben Davis, who left for Reed Smith to support the development of the firm's UK and pan-European private equity practice.

Sanderson becomes the sixth partner in Ropes' City private equity transactions group, including special situations practice co-head Peter Baldwin.

The hire is also the first addition to the London office since Ropes signed an agreement last month to double its office space and move into new premises at 1 New Ludgate in September 2015.

Ropes, which currently has 80 lawyers and 40 support staff at the 5 New Street Square base it sub-lets from Taylor Wessing, is expecting to double its headcount in the new office.

Baldwin joined the firm from Jones Day in 2011, the same year the office added Will Rosen and Kiran Sharma from DLA Piper, and relocated Bill Mone from Ropes' Boston office.

The firm's private equity team in London has a roster of clients including TPG Capital, BlackRock and Goldman Sachs Special Situations Group.