Addleshaw Goddard has settled arbitration proceedings the firm brought against former real estate head Mark Haywood after his move to Nabarro in 2014.

Real estate partner Haywood left Addleshaws in 2014 to set up Nabarro's Manchester office alongside Addleshaws real estate partners Monica Brij and Nathan Jansen.

It emerged in November that Addleshaws had brought arbitration proceedings against Haywood as a result of the move.

Partners at Addleshaws now say the case has been settled, although the terms of the settlement are not clear.

Arbitration clauses are generally contained within a firm's partnership deed as the preferred means of dispute resolution as they are confidential.

Partnership expert Tina Williams, who chairs the law firm Fox Williams, explained: "LLP agreements routinely contain a clause requiring disputes between partners and the LLP to be submitted to arbitration for the simple reason that arbitration is a private process, whereas court litigation is conducted in the public arena."

She added that the reasons for arbitration clauses to be invoked include breakdown of settlement negotiations, disputes over questions of law and in situations "where emotion around a dispute is running high".

Nabarro is understood to have been supporting Haywood through the process. Haywood was represented by Lewis Silkin and John Machell QC of Serle Court.

Last year, partners at Addleshaws voted through changes to the firm's partnership deed that made it more difficult for partners to leave. Under the previous deed, only seven equity partners were allowed to leave in a one-year period. With the new deed, that remains the same but there is also a combined number of fixed-share and equity partners that will trigger a lock-in, although it is not clear what that was.

The new deed also introduced a "bad leaver's clause", which enables the firm to cut the equity of partners who carry out certain behaviours when they leave the firm.

Addleshaws will absorb Scottish firm HBJ Gateley later this year, while it is also in talks with US firm Hunton & Williams and German firm Luther.

Addleshaws and Nabarro declined to comment.