King and Wood Mallesons (KWM) has had "the heart ripped out" of its European private equity (PE) practice, former and current partners of the firm say.

The damning verdict comes in response to the resignation of six PE partners from the firm's Paris office last week.

A London based KWM partner says: "It's a challenging time for the firm. No one would pretend the Paris news was welcome. Those guys are well regarded."

Led by Christophe Digoy, managing partner of KWM's Paris office and corporate co-head, the team will leave to launch a Goodwin Procter Paris office once they have served out their notice periods.

Digoy joined from Clifford Chance and was instrumental in setting up the legacy SJ Berwin Paris PE offering in 2003.

KWM corporate partners Maxence Bloch, Jerome Jouhanneaud, William Robert, Pierre-Louis Sevegrand and Thomas Maitrejean will join Digoy at Goodwin.

KWM said it was "disappointed" with the Paris team's departure - but one ex-partner said that a European PE practice no longer fits in with the Sino-Australian firm's overall strategy.

Private equity is known and used in the Australia office but it's not a core plank of their business

They comment: "PE isn't a known concept in China. It's known and used in the Australia office but it's not a core plank of their business which is more focused on projects, infrastructure, and structured finance."

Another ex-partner agrees: "Mallesons and King & Wood had no PE practice to speak of. They [SJ Berwin and KWM] weren't businesses that had great synergies."

The Paris moves follow a raft of legacy SJ Berwin heavyweight PE departures over the past 18 months from the firm's London office. These included corporate co-head Richard Lever who departed to spearhead the growth of Goodwin Procter's London PE team alongside PE partner Simon Fulbrook and PE partner Tim Wright who left to join DLA Piper.

One ex-partner says that legacy SJ Berwin previously consisted of "an amazing roster of PE partners across Europe". He adds: "They had real expertise and a fantastic client base."

The legacy SJ Berwin PE practice was widely regarded as a market leader, particularly in the fund formation arena, but was not unhampered by issues even before the KWM merger.

In 2004, the firm rejigged the practice structure to persuade partners Jonathan Pittal and Perry Yam to stay after they initially resigned to join Olswang. And the 2007 departure of Justin Dolling, Mark Mifsud and Richard Watkins to Kirkland & Ellis was particularly bruising.

They had real expertise and a fantastic client base

Yam eventually left in 2012 to set up Reed Smith's PE practice after 19 years at legacy SJ Berwin.

While the firm has continued to be seen on a number of plum mandates since - including the 2010 $755m (£490m) sale of UK private equity group Pantheon and 2011 €640m (£557m) disposal of the microconnections unit of French electrical goods manufacturer FCI by Bain Capital - there are questions in the market now over whether the firm can maintain a client list of this calibre after the most recent exits.

Global managing partner Stuart Fuller firmly refutes this, saying that private equity is extremely important to the firm as a whole.

He says: "Any suggestion that the firm isn't strong in private equity in Australia and China or that it's not core to our business is just nonsense, and I have no doubt that our 250 busy PE lawyers in those jurisdictions would say the same."

He adds: "Private equity has long been synonymous with KWM the world over, and there's good reason for that. In Australia alone we completed well over 100 private equity mandates last year."

Private equity is not only at the core of KWM Europe - it's at the core of KWM

Fuller says that strength "comes from the combination of all our European offices, not just one".

But with the French office's PE offering halved following last week's resignations, the European arm has clearly suffered a significant blow to its once formidable PE capabilities.

One ex-partner says: "Private equity was the jewel in their crown but they've lost the major profit generating partners from that practice. You won't get deals in PE if you don't have the people."

King and Wood Mallesons (KWM) has had "the heart ripped out" of its European private equity (PE) practice, former and current partners of the firm say.

The damning verdict comes in response to the resignation of six PE partners from the firm's Paris office last week.

A London based KWM partner says: "It's a challenging time for the firm. No one would pretend the Paris news was welcome. Those guys are well regarded."

Led by Christophe Digoy, managing partner of KWM's Paris office and corporate co-head, the team will leave to launch a Goodwin Procter Paris office once they have served out their notice periods.

Digoy joined from Clifford Chance and was instrumental in setting up the legacy SJ Berwin Paris PE offering in 2003.

KWM corporate partners Maxence Bloch, Jerome Jouhanneaud, William Robert, Pierre-Louis Sevegrand and Thomas Maitrejean will join Digoy at Goodwin.

KWM said it was "disappointed" with the Paris team's departure - but one ex-partner said that a European PE practice no longer fits in with the Sino-Australian firm's overall strategy.

Private equity is known and used in the Australia office but it's not a core plank of their business

They comment: "PE isn't a known concept in China. It's known and used in the Australia office but it's not a core plank of their business which is more focused on projects, infrastructure, and structured finance."

Another ex-partner agrees: "Mallesons and King & Wood had no PE practice to speak of. They [SJ Berwin and KWM] weren't businesses that had great synergies."

The Paris moves follow a raft of legacy SJ Berwin heavyweight PE departures over the past 18 months from the firm's London office. These included corporate co-head Richard Lever who departed to spearhead the growth of Goodwin Procter's London PE team alongside PE partner Simon Fulbrook and PE partner Tim Wright who left to join DLA Piper.

One ex-partner says that legacy SJ Berwin previously consisted of "an amazing roster of PE partners across Europe". He adds: "They had real expertise and a fantastic client base."

The legacy SJ Berwin PE practice was widely regarded as a market leader, particularly in the fund formation arena, but was not unhampered by issues even before the KWM merger.

In 2004, the firm rejigged the practice structure to persuade partners Jonathan Pittal and Perry Yam to stay after they initially resigned to join Olswang. And the 2007 departure of Justin Dolling, Mark Mifsud and Richard Watkins to Kirkland & Ellis was particularly bruising.

They had real expertise and a fantastic client base

Yam eventually left in 2012 to set up Reed Smith's PE practice after 19 years at legacy SJ Berwin.

While the firm has continued to be seen on a number of plum mandates since - including the 2010 $755m (£490m) sale of UK private equity group Pantheon and 2011 €640m (£557m) disposal of the microconnections unit of French electrical goods manufacturer FCI by Bain Capital - there are questions in the market now over whether the firm can maintain a client list of this calibre after the most recent exits.

Global managing partner Stuart Fuller firmly refutes this, saying that private equity is extremely important to the firm as a whole.

He says: "Any suggestion that the firm isn't strong in private equity in Australia and China or that it's not core to our business is just nonsense, and I have no doubt that our 250 busy PE lawyers in those jurisdictions would say the same."

He adds: "Private equity has long been synonymous with KWM the world over, and there's good reason for that. In Australia alone we completed well over 100 private equity mandates last year."

Private equity is not only at the core of KWM Europe - it's at the core of KWM

Fuller says that strength "comes from the combination of all our European offices, not just one".

But with the French office's PE offering halved following last week's resignations, the European arm has clearly suffered a significant blow to its once formidable PE capabilities.

One ex-partner says: "Private equity was the jewel in their crown but they've lost the major profit generating partners from that practice. You won't get deals in PE if you don't have the people."