McDermott Will & Emery has been left with no intellectual property (IP) partners in its London office after its UK practice chief has departed for Ropes & Gray.

UK IP, media and technology chief Rohan Massey is joining Ropes's London branch as its first privacy and data security partner in the City.

Massey was the sole McDermott IP partner in London after the departure of IP and life sciences partner Hiroshi Sheraton to Baker & McKenzie in February 2014.

His departure comes as Boston IP partner and co-chair of the firm's global privacy and data protection group Heather Sussman has also left McDermott to join Ropes's Boston office.

McDermott now has 10 IP partners in the city following Sussman's exit.

Both Massey and Sussman had worked at McDermott for nearly 15 years.

Ropes' IP clients include Target, Home Depot, Neiman Marcus, Aldo, Heartland Payment Systems and Sony.

Last year, McDermott's London corporate partner Mark Crofskey departed for PwC to bulk up its UK legal arm's M&A team.

In 2013, the firm's London based head of European M&A, Mats Sacklen, left for Baker & McKenzie.

However, earlier this year, McDermott announced that it had plans to expand in London as demand from US clients grows starting with the hire in February of two partners to join its international private client practice.

Ropes & Gray has also been bulking up in London. In April, the firm launched a London commercial litigation practice with the hire of K&L Gates litigation partner Thomas Ross.

McDermott was unavailable to comment.