Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer competition litigation head Jon Lawrence is leaving the firm to take up a pupillage at Brick Court Chambers.

Lawrence, who has been a partner at the magic circle firm since 1993, is set to join Brick Court next autumn. He will continue to handle client work at Freshfields up until his departure.

In addition to leading the competition litigation team, he also heads up Freshfields' cartel skills group, and led the firm's team defending Mastercard from a £14bn group action in relation to illegal card charges that were alleged to have been passed on to consumers.

Freshfields disputes head David Scott said: "It is testament to the quality of our partners that they have the opportunity to broaden their careers.

"Jon's move offers those clients who are working with him continuity – and of course they also have that from within the outstanding team we have in the firm, which has had a longstanding approach of dual-partnering our cases, and will remain the most highly regarded competition litigation team in the market."

Last year, two other senior partners left Freshfields for the Bar. Litigation partner Raj Parker joined Matrix Chambers as an associate member after more than three decades at the firm, while former managing partner Ian Terry joined One Essex Court as a mediator in October 2016.

Freshfields recently posted revenue of £1.33bn for 2016-17, a marginal increase of just 0.3% on the previous year, while profit per equity partner grew by 5% to £1.547m. At the end of the financial year, a number of finance partners left the firm, with others deequitised, after the completion of a restructuring of its global finance practice.