Gibson Dunn & Crutcher has made another high profile hire in London, poaching senior finance partner Stephen Gillespie from Kirkland & Ellis. 

Gillespie joins the line-up of Gibson Dunn's recent corporate intake including former Ashurst partners Nigel Stacey, Jonathan Earle and Mark Sperotto, who made the move with former Ashurst senior partner Charlie Geffen this year.

The Kirkland man spent eight years in Kirkland & Ellis' European debt finance practice, after moving to the firm from Allen & Overy in 2006, where he was global co-head of the magic circle firm's banking practice.

Gillespie is also the second high-profile partner to leave Kirkland & Ellis' London office in two months, following the move of de facto City head to Fried Frank as its first London managing partner.

"We have worked on the opposite side of the table to Stephen on private equity finance transactions and have first-hand experience of his superb technical skills," said co-partner in charge of the firm's London office, Tom Budd.

"Stephen's hiring will position us well to attract top-tier leveraged finance mandates from both sponsors and lenders."

Gillespie's experience includes divestitures, recapitalizations, workouts and restructurings.

At Kirkland & Ellis he acted for a number of high-profile deals including Bain Capital's $1.8bn (£1.15bn) acquisition of the kitchens and bathrooms business of American Standard.

Geffen, who now heads Gibson Dunn's London corporate practice, joined the firm earlier this year alongside partner Mark Sperotto. The hire followed months of speculation about Geffen's next move after his defeat to Ben Tidswell in Ashurst's chairman election last year.