An Australian court has ruled on a dispute between Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) and eight of its former partners who left the firm to launch White & Case's Australia offering.

A settlement was reached between the eight former partners and the 167-strong claimant group of current HSF partners yesterday (1 May).

The former partners joining White & Case are prohibited from soliciting or acting for HSF clients or poaching HSF partners or team members until 1 September – a year from when they resigned from the firm.

Former HSF Melbourne partners Andrew Clark, Brendan Quinn, Alan Rosengarten, Josh Sgro, Tim Power, Jared Muller and Joanne Draper and former Sydney partner Joel Rennie, have also been prevented from joining the US firm as partners until then.

An interlocutory injunction was made earlier this year to the same effect and this has now been made permanent.

In a statement, an HSF spokesperson said: "We are pleased to announce we have reached a settlement in our proceedings and we are happy to bring this matter to a conclusion."

A White & Case spokesperson said: "We are extremely pleased that the eight lawyers were able to join the firm as of 2 March 2017 and are making a significant contribution to the firm and its clients. We are happy to bring this matter to conclusion."

The decision does not apply to the other HSF partners hired by White & Case at the same time former Hong Kong partner Fergus Smith and former Singapore partner Matthew Osborne.

The eight partners instructed Seyfarth Shaw to represent them in the case brought against them by their former firm, which could have seen them blocked from working there until September.

White & Case launched its Melbourne office in December 2016 and opened in Sydney earlier this year after adding HSF senior associates Adeline Pang and Ged Cochrane, and special counsel Michelle Keen, as partners in Melbourne.