Kirkland's London office is to see seven partners leave for other firms, with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer adding a finance partner to a six-partner team heading to Sidley Austin.

High yield partner Andrew Hagan is set to join Freshfields, where he will be reunited with Ward McKimm, co-head of European leveraged finance at the magic circle firm, who joined from Kirkland in June 2015. Hagan joined Kirkland in 2013 from Sidley as an associate, making partner in 2014. It is understood that Freshfields brought in McKimm, who joined Kirkland in 2011 from Shearman & Sterling, above its London lockstep.

At the same time Sidley is boosting its City offering with a six-partner team from its US rival.

The firm has hired City private equity partners Christian Iwasko, Erik Dahl and Fatema Orjela alongside banking partner Bryan Robson, corporate partner Sava Savov and tax partner Oliver Currall. Only two of the group are understood to be equity partners at Kirkland.

Dahl, who works from London and Munich, and Iwasko act for US private equity house TowerBrook while Robson has previously advised Bain Capital.

George Petrow, Sidley's managing partner for the European region, said the hires were "a significant milestone towards building out Sidley's private equity practice".

Carter Phillips, chair of Sidley's executive committee, said: "We have been focused on growing our private equity capabilities for quite a while. This cohesive team is accomplished, energetic and driven, exactly the kind of lawyers we look for and clearly the kind of lawyers clients look for, too."

The hires come after Sidley last year recruited Weil finance partner, Rupert Wall, in the City. Wall trained at Freshfields, qualifying in 2003, before joining Weil in 2004.

Kirkland has seen a number of partner exits over the last year in London but has also brought in several laterals.

In February last year, it recruited Linklaters' corporate partner and head of real estate M&A Matthew Elliott, followed by the May hire of Paula Riedel, head of Linklaters' competition practice, the June hire of Weil Gotshal & Manges tax head Jonathan Kandel and the hire of corporate partner Roger Johnson, also from Linklaters, in September.

Kirkland's London head, banking partner Stephen Lucas, is also formerly of Linklaters. He left the magic circle firm in 2011 to join Weil Gotshal & Manges, leaving for Kirkland in 2014.

Since he joined Kirkland exits have included finance partner Stephen Gillespie, who quit for Gibson Dunn at the end of 2014 and former office head Graham White, who left for Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson in October 2014.

More recent exits other than McKimm include a private funds team comprising Mark Mifsud, Kate Downey and Alexandra Conroy who all left for Fried Frank Harris Shriver and Jacobson in May. In addition, in June, banking partner Philip Crump and corporate partner James Howe joined Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and Proskauer Rose respectively.