Two more partners have left King & Wood Mallesons (KWM), with Covington & Burling hiring competition partner Elaine Whiteford and Norton Rose Fulbright picking up disputes partner Paul Stothard.

Whiteford leaves after three and a half years at KWM, having previously been a partner at Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP).

Her move to Covington will reunite her with two other ex-KWM colleagues – Alex Leitch and the recently recruited Greg Lascelles. Leitch joined Covington at the beginning of 2015 to help with the firms' disputes practice, with Lascelles joining earlier this month.

During her career, Whiteford has been involved in a number of high profile cases including one of the only abuse of dominance cases to go to trial in England, involving London Luton Airport.

Leitch said: "She brings a wealth of EU litigation experience, which we see as a real asset in the current market, impacted by many developments around Europe, including Brexit-related disputes and the new class action regime in the UK."

News of her move comes as Paul Stothard has joined Norton Rose Fulbright as partner within its dispute resolution practice.

After practising international arbitration in Allen & Overy's Dubai office, Stothard made partner at Dentons before moving to legacy SJ Berwin in 2013 ahead of its merger with KWM.

Stothard's focus is on complex multi-jurisdictional disputes, with a particular focus on international arbitration.

Stothard and Whiteford are the latest in a string of partners to leave KWM, with finance partner Jeremy Cross joining the London office of US firm Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft earlier this month.

In April, Mishcon de Reya hired London intellectual property (IP) head David Rose, IP partner Campbell Forsyth left for Dentons and commercial partner Gretchen Scott left to join Goodwin Procter.

Some of the partner departures have come as a result of a restructuring of KWM's UK arm, while others have voluntarily left the firm.