Mishcon de Reya has hired King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) London intellectual property (IP) head David Rose as two other KWM partners exit for Dentons and Goodwin Procter.

KWM IP partner Campbell Forsyth is joining Dentons, while commercial partner Gretchen Scott is leaving to join Goodwin Procter.

At Mishcons, Rose will rejoin former KWM IP head Ray Black, who made the move last year.

In 2009 Rose replaced Black as the IP practice head when the former head stepped down from the role after 18 years.

Rose's client list includes Marks & Spencer and Sky, which he represented on a number of high-profile disputes including its battle in 2013 with Microsoft over trademark infringements. He specialises in rights protection and enforcement across all areas of IP.

Mishcons IP head Jeremy Hertzog said Rose's appointment was part of a strategy to expand the practice to make Mishcon "one of London's leading IP firms".

He added: "The wealth of experience that David brings adds significant weight to our ever-growing IP capability."

Meanwhile, Forsyth has signed up to join Dentons' IP practice. A patent litigation specialist, he has a track record of acting on complex and multi-jurisdictional disputes, mostly in the telecoms, electronics and life sciences sectors.

Dentons UK, Middle East and Africa CEO Jeremy Cohen said Forsyth's recruitment added "heavyweight patent litigation experience" to the team.

He added: "This is also an important step in building our global patents team. We are currently experiencing particular demands from US and Asian clients for advice in the UK and Europe, and anticipate further demand from across our regions as we enhance our capabilities in this area."

Commercial partner Gretchen Scott has also resigned from KWM to join Goodwin Procter.

Scott advises on all aspects of commercial contracts and associated regulatory matters, non-contentious intellectual property, information technology and data protection.

She will rejoin partners Richard Lever and Simon Fulbrook, who moved to Goodwin last year. Earlier this week (4 April) a team of six private equity partners from KWM's Paris office also made the move to Goodwin.

Christopher Barker, chair of Goodwin's hospitality and leisure practice, said: "Gretchen's deep hospitality sector knowledge is an ideal fit for our robust international practice."

The news of the departures follows KWM's announcement that it is to cut 15% of its legacy SJ Berwin partnership alongside up to 45 business service redundancies in London as it undergoes a major restructuring.

It is unknown whether today's departure are related to the cuts.

KWM's UK arm has faced multiple issues over the last 12 months including delays in partner profit distributions and a number of high-profile exits including the resignation of six private equity partners from its Paris office earlier this week.

The firm recently overhauled its profit distribution system to a monthly system following repeated delays to its quarterly payouts.

The first payment of the new system was made in February, before which the firm had made just 25% of the payments from the 2015-16 year (payments always relate to the prior financial year).