Lazard has hired former Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer senior partner Will Lawes as a managing director in the latest move by a high profile lawyer into investment banking.

Lawes will join the financial advisory group in London on 9 January. He will advise FTSE 100 and other boards on strategic and financial matters.

The news comes after Freshfields M&A partner Mark Rawlinson's moved to Morgan Stanley in October to head its UK investment banking arm.

Chief executive of Lazard London William Rucker said: "Will is one of the most respected advisers in the City, having spent over 25 years counseling management teams and boards of the UK's largest companies."

Lawes first took up the senior partner role at Freshfields after a contested partnership vote in 2010 against chief executive Ted Burke. He began the role in January 2011, standing down at the end of 2015 when former corporate head Edward Braham was elected senior partner alongside a new global leadership team. The team took up their posts from 1 January 2016.

Dispute resolution partner Chris Pugh and tax partner Stephan Eilers were named as joint managing partners, based in London and Cologne, respectively.

Michael Lacovara, head of the firm's general industries sector group, took on the role of executive partner at the magic circle firm. In June, Lacovara resigned from the firm to join Latham & Watkins in New York only six months into his term. He started working for Latham in July.

It is understood that Lacovara has not been replaced in his role, with his work redistributed among the management team.

Before becoming senior partner, Lawes was financial institutions co-head for six years. He joined Freshfields in 1986 and became partner in 1994.

Lazard has advised on some of the largest M&A deals this year, including Anheuser-Busch InBev's £79bn acquisition of SABMiller and the £24.3bn sale of ARM Holdings to SoftBank.